Misconceptions
by awesomeo123
Summary: Fran's twin sister Francesca is just like him. So what happens when their parents are murdered? They join a certain pineapple. And just when their lives are perfect, the Varia crash the party. Rated T for slight swearing, MukuroXOC
1. Meet the Twins

**This is my first fanfic...hope you enjoy :]**

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><p><span>Chapter 1 – Welcome to Earth<span>

Isn't it ironic that the nicest families end up with the oddest children? Matthew and Natalie didn't have last names. They were illusionists. It didn't matter. But nonetheless, they married and lived happily together, even though they spent their whole lives running away from the mafia. Being students of the Arcobaleno Marmon was enough to be on the most wanted list.

It was one glorious spring in Italy when Natalie finally took the big step – telling her husband that she was pregnant. It had been a bad time too – they had just been forced to abandon a safe house and hadn't slept in a week.

"I need to talk to you Matthew...it's important." Matthew had never seen his wife look so uncertain – she was by far the most calm of the pair (though he would never admit it).

"What? It's not like your pregnant right?" he chuckled nervously. Man it was awkward.

"I am." Natalie sighed. The worst was over. Or so it seemed.

Matthew fainted. When he regained consciousness, he saw his wife standing by his side. "Are you alright?" she asked uncertainly.

"Right as rain", he rumbled while pushing himself off the floor. "Had some weird dream about you being pregnant", he said while laughing at the idea.

"It's true."

This time, he sighed without doing anything too melodramatic. "Is is a boy or a girl?" he asked confident he could keep a straight face.

"It's both." Nope it was too much. He fainted again.

The second time he woke up, his wife finally decided to cut to the chase. "They're twins. 7 months. And you'd better be a damn good father."

"You've been hiding this for 7 months?" exploded Matthew.

"I just wanted to figure out their names..."his wife said as innocently as she could. Of course Matthew couldn't stay angry at her...he would have probably suicided – IF he had not known that it was probably too late to run away without seeming like a bad husband.

"Then have you chosen their names yet?" he muttered.

"I want the boy to be Fran. The girl's your choice." Fran. Of all names, Fran. Why did a boy have to have such a... weird name? But his wife was adamant.

"In that case, I want the girl's name to be Franscesca." _At least I can choose a normal name _he thought defiantly.

'_Hey!'_ his wife's voice butted in. "_I can read your mind, remember"?_ All that Matthew could do was sigh. His fault for proposing.

Two long and tedious months later, the two illusionists found themselves with two interesting children. The first thing they saw? Green hair, green eyes. Both their parents had brown hair and blue eyes. The strangest thing? Not one of them cried. They both looked at their parents – no _glared _at their parents before they yawned and fell asleep. Matthew's look was clear. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" he screamed with his eyes.

"_Hey don't drag me into this"_ he heard in his mind. Then Natalie fell asleep leaving the newly made father awkwardly holding his newborn twins.

The first month was wonderful. Their children stopped glaring at them anyway. They could even use illusions – something that they must've inherited. Unfortunately, Natalie and Matthew were still on the run from the mafia – with the two children they had to drag along. It wasn't as if you could hide quietly in an alleyway when your two children tried to make a complete marching band rush out alerting the enemy and leaving you cornered. At least they laughed for the first time since they were born...

Another thing Matthew seemed to notice was that all they seemed to do was eat, glare, poop, sleep and then glare some more. Natalie wasn't doing much better; she had tried the whole 'telepathy' thing on them – but they were her children, and they learnt (by themselves entirely) how to block out her annoying naggy voice. By this time, both parents had realised that their children were perhaps a little more difficult to keep up with than they had imagined it to be.

So one day, while being chased (yet again) by the Mafia, they created a horrific illusion of themselves dying. It hadn't been a pleasant sight – but it did the job of giving them a chance to live without fear.

Fran and Francesca from then on had a rather nice childhood in France. They learned to walk and talk when they were two, and spoke French, Japanese, Italian AND English – just because their parents couldn't agree on which was more important. When they were three, they learned to read and write – though only in Italian.

Teaching subjects was a bit annoying... you couldn't exactly take Fran and Francesca to school and tell them to act normal. It was impossible. So soon they had the brain of an 15 year old – crammed into the body of a child.

Genetically they were unique. Not just by appearance, but they were immune to most pains. Well they felt it, but they could tolerate it well enough. The parents only learnt this after Fran pushed Francesca out of a 7 metre tall tree (their hideout) and she broke her arm – but shrugged and climbed the tree again as if nothing had happened.

Physically, they had good endurance and agility, but were completely rubbish at ball sports. It took Fran three years till he could catch a ball just once. His hair was long – for a boy that is. It was almost level with his chin. As for Francesca, she insisted on a bun with chopsticks every morning which went surprisingly well with her long fringe that covered half her face. Both of their favourite colours were indigo.

As for personality... they seemed nice enough at first glance, but in truth, they were both sadistic nut cases. Their parents finally realised that there was no changing them after they bribed them, spoilt them and as last resort, threatened them.

Another unique situation was that they too, like their mother, were telepathic – though only between each other. One look, and they always devised a brilliant plan that outsmarted their parent again and again. Anyways, their parents had bought a nice apartment (with illusionary money of course) and they lived for a few years without too many incidents. Of course there was that time when Fran stole a gun, or when Francesca drove a stalker raving mad, but it never raised much suspicion.

It was only when they were seven when something horrific happened. Fran decided to prank Francesca. Now, both of them had amazing control and knowledge of using illusions though their parents had dismissed the thought of anything bad that could happen. What could two sadistic teenagers possibly do?

"You can't catch me! Take that Fresca!" shouted Fran almost playfully using her nickname as he ran around the town square. The other civilians were used to the two children that kept appearing from nowhere – they were interesting to have around.

"That's not fair!" Francesca huffed back indignantly. "You never said we were playing!"

"But I never said we weren't did I? If you can't catch me, I won't give you your rubix cube back." He bribed, wagging the cube between his hands.

"I don't care. You can have it. I don't know how to solve it anyway." she sighed back.

"But Mum will care if I tell her you stole it off some rich kid right?" Fran teased. Sighing, she ran after him. She didn't tell him that she had told their mother that he had 3 beers yet... there would be better times. As he turned a sharp corner and she followed, she found herself slamming into a brick wall and fell down. "Ow..." she muttered obviously not in pain. She got up and concentrated.

"Oi Fran! What was that for?" she said as loudly but calmly as possible while ignoring the civilians passing by. He was nowhere to be seen. She concentrated even harder and felt a light nag behind her. Suddenly she whipped around and caught him – by his neck. As if he could still get away with his childish trick.

"How did you find me? I though I really got the hang of that one..." whined Fran. Francesca yawned not releasing her grip. "Apologize. And don't forget the box." she muttered. Fran shook his head defiantly which was quite a feat considering Francesca had started to choke him.

"You asked for it." She created another illusion – a torture chamber. She dragged him over to what appeared to be the 'Iron Maiden'. "This is your last chance." She warned.

"I'm sorry" he said grudgingly. He knew that if an illusionist had his (or her for that matter) illusion countered, then it meant that they given up on their control of perception. There was no point in trying to retaliate, he had already lost.

"All right" she said brightly. "I'll take my box back thanks..." Fran wasn't listening to her. He was staring at all the people behind her back – the villagers that had seen and felt her illusion. They had seen her torture chamber. Boy were they in trouble...

What else could they do? They bolted.

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><p><strong>Please review... should I continue? Have a nice day :]<strong>


	2. Welcome to Italy

**Please excuse my horrible writing - i'm new at this :P**

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><p>Chapter 2: WELCOME TO ITALY<p>

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" It was rare to see both their parents this angry at them. Apparently they had faked their deaths before, but by now the mafia were scrounging for illusionists, and now they would have been able to find the whole family.

"We're sorry ,"they muttered in unison.

"Sorry doesn't cut it! Pack your bags. We're leaving." Growled his father.

"Where are we going?" Francesca asked while yawning (she really did need to sleep more instead of plotting ideas to annoy Fran). She really did like France...

"I don't know. We're leaving in five minutes." Her mother replied coldly. After all their efforts, why did something like this have to happen?

That was how, twenty minutes later they found themselves at the French airport on their way to Italy. The plan was to basically find Marmon, who would give them protection in exchange for money. Matthew and Natalie were certain that their teacher could help them. It was their last option after all. They each had a few possessions, memories, things like that.

Francesca noticed that both their parents kept looking over their shoulders all the way through the baggage area – and didn't stop until they were on the plane. 10 minutes after liftoff, she became bored. Too bored.

"Are we there yet?" she whined.

"No." Fran replied in a bored tone. Twenty seconds later, she asked again.

"Are we there yet now?"

"No." This time her parents replied in unison earning a few stares from other passengers. Perhaps another minute passed.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we – "

"Will you shut up!" half the people in the plane groaned. Francesca could only smile to herself.

The flight ended up to be an hour and a half. During that time, Fran had eaten 17 packets of peanuts, 4 litres of coke and was about to eat another peanut when the captains voice came over.

"Bonjour passengers! We will be landing in 5 minuted. Please fasten your seat belts." Fran frowned. He didn't want to buckle his seatbelt. It was uncomfortable and seriously, he want to eat his peanuts in his unique position: Leaning on the tray that slid out from the seat in front of him as he flicked peanuts in his mouth. So instead, he whipped up an illusion. He saw his parents and sister frown slightly, but didn't stop him. Suddenly, the plane began shaking so violently he almost bit off his tongue. The people around him were screaming. The oxygen bag popped out on top of him.

"Passengers, we are receiving some turbulence, please remain calm!" Though the pilot sounded anything but. Suddenly the plane dropped and began to free fall.

"Oh shit..." he began to float in the air, and tumbled over 6 rows before the aeroplane righted itself where he landed head first (heavily) in an empty seat.

"We are sorry for the turbulence, please stay seated until the seatbelt sign has been turned off." The pilot sounded relieved. A few people were crying dramatically, but at least the screaming stopped.

Ahead of him, he saw Francesca's head pop up. "How'd you get there?" All Fran could do was shrug. He couldn't be more glad when they left the plane, though he did receive more than a few suspicious glances.

That's where the two caring parents made their worst mistake. In a busy airport, it's difficult for a group of four to stay together. Especially if you had two resilient children.

"I want some ice cream..."Francesca muttered.

"Mom, and dad are busy, can't it wait?" Fran said trying to fight back a yawn. Plane trips were so tiring...

"Na... I'll be right back." Being the brilliant brother he was, he allowed himself to be dragged along while carrying both their backpacks. As for their parents, being concerned about their current situation, they assumed that their children were still following them and disappeared among the crowds.

Apparently ice cream wasn't being sold in the baggage area. So instead, Fran found himself with Francesca surrounded by random crowds. Left, right, forwards, backwards. Nothing. They couldn't find their parents, were lost in a foreign airport, didn't have their passports and apparently were wanted by the Mafia. Not good. Francesca hated to admit it but it was (just a little bit) her fault.

2 hours later they finally found their parents...dead. As police zoned the area off, both children had one last look at their mother and father. Apparently they just...died. No blood, no broken bones, no fingerprints. It was suspected as a heart attack but Fran knew that both his parents were perfectly healthy. The policemen looked suspiciously at them.

"Do you know these two people?" they were asked. Two parentless twelve year olds staring at a dead couple. Yea right that wasn't suspicious.

"No..."they muttered. "We're just stretching our legs... out parents are waiting a gate 24." he lied as they hastily walked away.

Mafia. That was the only option. _What are going to do? _Francesca practically hissed in his mind. Fran turned around and began to walk away. _Oi, those are our parents! So what if we never liked them, at least give them a proper funeral!_ Fran stopped and looked at her. "Our mission right now is to find Marmon. Not to grieve for them." And with that, he walked away.

Once Francesca snapped out of her shock, she grudgingly followed him. _It's not being weak_ she reminded herself. _You're just following him so you can make sure he doesn't hurt himself. _She frowned. She couldn't even convince herself that she wasn't scared.

As they arrived in immigration, they noticed several guards walking angrily toward them. "I got this" Francesca heard her brother mutter quietly. _Snap. _The guards changed direction, and began pointing fingers at a man who was waiting in a different line.

"What are you doing? Hey!" he yelled as the guards began to drag him away. _"That may have been over doing it Fran."_

"_Would you rather that have been us?"_ he yelled defensively back.

As they progressed through the line, they tried to look inconspicuous. Fran pulled up his hood. Francesca put on a cap with an 'Italy, sleep with the fishes' slogan. When they managed to make it to the front of the line, the immigrations officer looked at them suspiciously.

"Where are your parents?" he questioned in French with a heavy Italian accent after he looked at their fake passports. Fran sweat dropped. He honestly didn't think they would make it that far...But Francesca took control.

"Were flying solo sir." She stated in fluent Italian, while handing over her deck of playing cards. Well that was what Fran saw. The officer straightened up and looked at the box of cards.

"Of course! I'm sorry, forgive me! You should wear the badge though. Here." The man grabbed two cards out of the deck and stamped them. "Enjoy your stay!" he said happily. Fran only raised an eyebrow.

As they took a step outside the airport, Fran sucked in the fresh air. They finally made it. Italy.

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><p><strong>It never hurts to review :]<strong>


	3. Pineapple head

**Ok...So i started this fanfic before the latest chapter of KHR was put up (347) so I just changed one small detail...they're actually 8 instead of 12 so they have more time to train with Mukuro. I'll try to finish this before the next chapter comes out so it can STOP RUINING MY PLOT. I'm trying to make his sister NOT Mary Sue, so...give me a chance o.k? Personally I don't really care about reviews, so you don't have to bother. But if there's something MAJORLY WRONG please let me know. Enjoy reading :]**

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><p><span>Chapter 3 - Pineapple hair<span>

"Si fa a sapere la mafia?" he asked a nearby guide who was walking around looking for business. (Do you know the mafia?)

"Ma sei matto? Naturalmente ragazzo non poco!" the woman replied, terrified. (Are you crazy? Of course not little boy!)

"Ah it was worth a try…"he muttered to his sister. She rolled her eyes. Leave it to Fran to find Marmon….

For the rest of the day, they wondered around looking for clues. Several times they asked men in suits where to find 'Marmon' but they were just ignored. Soon the sun began to set, and they dined in a fast food restaurant. Growing up, their parents had never let them have fast food, and they both agreed that it was delicious and disgusting at the same time.

They spent that night in park – Francesca was afraid that someone would turn them in. So they stayed outside. It wasn't a big deal since it was summer, but every now and then a drunk would stagger along and look at them suspiciously.

"We need to find the illusionist." Francesca broke the long silence.

"How? And we don't have any money to bribe him." Fran muttered. "And there's no point in making illusions, if he's an illusionist he'll be able to tell for sure."

"We'll find a way. There's no point in staying on the streets forever." Shuddered Francesca.

"Way to state the obvious genius." Fran said ignoring the twinge in his mind to be nicer to his sister. "This is Italy. We'll just ask someone in the mafia. Don't sweat it." They dropped behind a large statue pedestal and sat quietly for several minutes.

And with that, Francesca suddenly leaned on Fran as tears began to splash on his shirt. Fran just awkwardly wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "We'll be fine." He said, trying to convince himself more than her.

"How can you promise something like that?" hiccupped Francesca. _So this is her true nature_ though Fran. Inside she was still a weak little girl. He considered thoughtfully before answering.

"I swear on both our graves that nothing will happen to you as long as I'm here. Got that?"

"Deal. But I'm not dead yet!" she rebutted defiantly. Fran sighed. At least she wasn't in a 'we're going to die' state anymore. With that, the two siblings fell asleep, his head on hers.

Francesca woke up to hearing a distinct crack. Fran immediately tensed beside her. The sun was just a crack. They hadn't been discovered yet. He raised his finger to his lips, and Francesca nodded.

Slowly, they stood up and took a peek. Bad idea. Guess who? The mafia – and they had seen them. Francesca sighed. Of course two little green haired kids asking about an Arcobaleno was suspicious in the slightest (sarcastic voice-over). Fran grabbed his sister's hand and began to run but she tripped. Cursing, he dragged her up and half carried, half dragged her across the various alleyways but to no avail. A dead end. He turned around. The men with suits were closing in on them. "Maybe we can talk about this", he said calmly as he made both of them invisible.

"He's an illusionist!" she heard one of them yell. But it didn't matter – the man holding the gun didn't seem effected by the illusion. Francesca gulped. "See you in hell Fran?"

"Ku fu fu fu fu... what have we here?" said a boy appearing between the hunted and the hunting. They gaped. In front of them was a boy barely twelve years old with mismatched eyes holding a trident.

"It's Mukuro Rokudo! Leave the kids. Run for it!" The men panicked.

"I do not spare mafia men. Nothing personal." He laughed his strange laugh again and struck the trident on the ground. Lava erupted from the ground and the men in suits screamed as they erupted in flames. Francesca could practically feel the heat, though she knew that there was no way it was real.

"Ku fu fu fu fu... I suppose you are..." the question was directed to them, though they had no idea how he could see through their invisibility trick. The dropped the illusion.

"Fran. Francesca. What about you? Why do you have a red eye? How old are you? How can you use illusions? Why the hell are they afraid of you? Do you do fucking drugs? Are a freaking psychopath?"Francesca rambled.

"My name is Mukuro. I assume you are Francesca...? I am in truth a demon, my body is 12 years old. As for the men, i destroyed one of their allied families and I do NOT use drugs...ku fu fu fu fu, but I take your word that I am a psychopath..." he replied with a smile.

"BYON, I can't believe we escaped jail for this! Why are we saving these midgets!" barked a boy with blond hair and what appeared to be fangs.

"Ken...Mukuro would not have saved them for no reason..." a boy with glasses and yo-yo's muttered uninterested. Why he was facing towards a garbage bin when he said this – Fran had no idea. There was however, another girl with them. Francesca thought she looked pretty with her short red hair and a M.M clip. However, she was intently glaring at her and rudely stuck her tongue out at them, but to be more precise, her.

"Excuse them. These are my comrades. Ken. Chikusa. M.M. I see you both had talent with illusions... I offer you sanctuary in return for your loyalty." He suggested.

"We're good thanks. We're actually going to ask Marmon for help." Muttered Fran.

"The Arcobaleno? I assure he will not help you... however, I will only offer you this once." He replied curtly. "Have an answer before sundown. Today."

"How will we find you?" Francesca started. He paused before replying.

"We will find you." Mist appeared and disappeared taking the bizarre group with them, leaving the twins staring at the remaining dead bodies.

"What should we do?" Francesca said worried.

"I wonder why he said Marmon wouldn't help us..."Fran trailed off.

"Maybe he knows that we don't have the money. What do you think?" asked Francesca.

"I say we go with him." Fran replied, serious for once.

"Then let's kill some time." And they spent the rest of the afternoon buying completely useless things – knives (they had to make illusions to get those) new clothes, and lots of chocolate bars.

"We can't live on chocolate bars Fresca. You know that."

"Hey! They taste good." She replied snobbily.

"They'll make you even fatter." He stated.

"Are you calling me fat?" she screeched in his ear

"Maybe I am. Let me think about it." Fran said as he began to walk away, knowing about the many hours of her sister ranting about how she wasn't fat he was going to have to endure. Sundown couldn't come any faster.

They were eating gelato when Mukuro appeared again, this time unaccompanied by his 'gang'.

"I assume you have –"

"Want some ice cream?" Francesca spoke cutting him off rudely while shoving a half melted pistachio ice cream under his nose. Mukuro sighed. _This is going to be a long trip anyway – I can burn off loose calories right?_ He thought to himself. So he sat down and began to eat the frozen treat.

Fran finished his wild berry gelato first. "We accept. When do we leave?"

Mukuro glanced at the town square clock. "Our train leaves in twenty minutes. Let's go."

Once they were on the train, they found an empty compartment and picked their bunk beds. "I bax top bunk". Fran muttered first.

"I'll take the other top bunk then...ku fu fu fu fu..."Mukuro grinned eyeing the soft bed.

"What? I totally want the top bed." Francesca whined crossing her arms.

"We picked first." Fran replied from his bunk, gazing at the roof, arms behind his head.

"Ladies first. Ever heard that?"she shot back.

"From your behaviour, I can say you are neither a lady nor a girl and being children, we do not have to respect silly laws. Ever heard of that?" Mukuro replied smugly, lounging on his bunk. Outsmarted, Francesca sat in the bunk underneath Fran, fuming. This twelve hour trip just got a whole lot worse.

_1:29am_

Francesca frowned. She hated bottom bunk. She knew she wasn't going to sleep a wink. So instead, she practiced on her illusions. A little voodoo doll appeared in her hands. She morphed it and soon, it looked just like a certain red eyed boy sleeping across the room. Silently, she tore off both is arms, then legs and last but not least, head.

"Interesting use of illusions ku fu fu fu fu..." Francesca instinctively started to put her hands around her back but stopped when she saw Mukuro gazing at her.

"What do you want?" she said sarcastically but sweetly.

"I take you understand out previous discussion...?" he trailed off. Francesca frowned. It had been a long and BORING talk.

_5 hours ago..._

"_So...who are you really?" Francesca began. "I mean...how can you be a demon?"_

"_When humans die, they become either a demon, as a hungry ghost, a beast, an asura, a human, or a deva. I have the memory of going to all six realms. I've attained 6 combat skills from 6 underworlds, as you've seen." Fran and Francesca nodded in unison. Mukuro continued. _

"_I have no love for the mafia. They are despicable people, and i plan to destroy them. In doing so, i wish to create a group. Ken for instance can transform into different animals. Chikusa's yo-yo's have needles, and M.M's clarinet soundwaves resonate atoms at five hundred million times a minute which is enough to explode anything."_

"_And where do we come in?" asked Fran. _

"_I know you two. Twins of Matthew and Natalie. Extraordinary intellect and knowledge of illusions. I can teach you more. And one day, when you are ready, you will join me in my conquest to destroy the mafia once and for all!" he finished while striking the metal frame of his bed. When he took away his hand, it was dented. Sighing, he smiled again, momentary anger forgotten. _

"Sure." Francesca decided to drop the subject. What else did they need to know? "So... where's your gang?" she continued casually eager to change the subject.

"I prefer the term_ comrades_ if you don't mind. I'm not some sort a drug addict you know. We're not a druggie gang." he almost whined. Francesca smiled.

"So then, where are they? And why are we going to France?" Mukuro looked surprised for a moment. Then laughed.

"Ku fu fu fu fu... what gave it away? I did tell you it was a secret...My comrades however are waiting for us. And I like France. Good place to be plotting."

"That made absolutely no sense, pineapple head." Francesca yawned.

"Pineapple head?" he asked while mocking shock. "What type of a nick name is that?"

"Have you looked at your hair lately? Looks just like a pineapple." Mukuro opened his mouth to say something back, but decided against it. _It's one all now, biatch _Francesca smiled to herself. "Is M.M your girlfriend?" she blurted out and immediately clasped her hand onto her mouth. Did she say that out loud? She swore at herself.

"NO. Why would you think such a thing? I DO NOT fraternise with comrades! Honestly." He said icily but protectively.

"She's just acting protective I guess. I'm she declares her love for you anytime soon, don't say I didn't warn you..." she said happily, while fighting back a yawn. She couldn't keep it up for any longer. She yawned for a full ten seconds, stretching as she did.

"Sleepy? Why don't you sleep then?" Mukuro mused.

"Can't sleep coz i'm not in a top bunk" she grumbled while rubbing her eyes.

"I can help you with that." He offered

"Yeah right" she snorted. He just shrugged and snapped his fingers. She was feeling so sleepy...her eyelids fluttered. The last thing she saw was his face smiling down at her.

By the time Fran woke up it was already 6 o'clock. True he usually slept till 11, but it had been a hectic day. He was surprised he could sleep at all.

"Good morning passengers! We will be arriving in France in an hour. Please note that the breakfast compartment is now open, and that coffee and tea is available. Have a nice day!" Fran groaned. They were back in France. Of course he knew this the moment he got on the train, but Mukuro still believed that it was his secret. Idiot. What was the point of leaving France, having his parents killed, then moving back? Seriously.

He saw that the older boy was still sound asleep and his sister was swearing intensely while rolling around. Nightmare. _Be a good brother. Wake her up _one side of his brain suggested. _NO! Do you want to be slapped in the face? _His saner side frantically warned him. Well...she was his only family. And it wouldn't really hurt. He shook her shoulders. No response. The poked her stomach, hard.

Mukuro woke up to the colourful language of Francesca who was yelling about disturbing her precious sleep. Fran had a bloody nose. Damn... while watching her sleep earlier on he must have accidently dozed off...He cursed himself. He sat up, stretched then looked at the time. "How much longer till we get there?" he asked Fran who seemed to have been up for a while.

"We arrive in about an hour. I'm going to go grab some breakfast for us..." he muttered while walking towards the door.

"What about your nose? People will question you..." Mukuro trailed off when Fran waved a hand in front of his face and the blood disappeared. The look in his eyes were clear – _anything else? _Mukuro shook his head.

"Good morning sleeping beauty", he smiled when he looked at Francesca. Despite her ruffled green hair and dark bags under her eyes, Mukuro though she was pretty cute, despite her being several years younger. She was so mature... More than M.M anyway. Not that he would ever say that to her, of course.

"Pineapple head" she greeted groggily. "Good job. I slept like I was dead..." He smirked triumphantly.

As they both got up, they fought for the bathroom (Francesca finally won when punched him in the gut. It hurt more than Mukuro expected, and he certainly wasn't prepared for it. "Ku fu fu fu fu... it seems like you have quite the arm for a little girl" he said from outside the door. He heard the toilet flush and 5 dreadfully long minutes later, she came out a different person.

Her hair was in its bun, with chopsticks (Mukuro snickered when saw that) and the bags from under her eyes were gone. She was even smiling. "Strong illusions..." he muttered to himself as he walked into the bathroom. He tied up his hair – pineapple style (though he wondered if he should, he didn't really like his new nickname) and played with his fringe so it covered his eye. Perfect.

When he left the bathroom, Francesca and Fran had already started breakfast. Fran had apparently seen the need to buy out half the restaurant. Their cart was filled with freshly baked breads, seasonal fruit, and more drinks than a nightclub bar.

When the train pulled into the station, the twins seemed to share a meaningful look. _Telepathy..._he thought to himself. It was always a rumor that their mother had the gift of telepathy...

Ten minutes later, they breathed in the French air, not that it was much different from the Italian air. They walked towards a 'hire – a – bicycle' stand. They bought three and raced down the streets.

Francesca was tired. She hated physical exercise. She did have good endurance but she didn't mean enough to cycle the tour de France. She was eight for god's sake! Fran was huffing slightly, but didn't seem to mind. Mukuro looked almost like he was enjoying the ride. He wasn't even breathing differently.

Finally, after 4 hours, she fell. Both her legs cramped and she lost all her balance. As she tumbled across the pavement, she heard a blaring choir of motor horns and saw a car and a terrified driver. "Shit..." she muttered before closing her eyes.

She woke up in Mukuro's arms – bridal style. It didn't occur to her that he was only twelve and she weighed almost twenty kilos. Okay it was a little awkward. But hey, it was better than walking. Mukuro noticed the change in her breathing pattern. "Finally awake?" he smirked with his unique laugh.

"Where are we? Last I remember I was underneath a car..." she trailed off expecting him to answer.

"You did get hit by a car. Broken collarbone, three broken toes, four broken ribs, a minor fracture to your skull, and a sprained wrist." Fran piped up from behind them.

"Well, you got lucky. If you didn't fall, you would have been hit by a truck... your bicycle is just a lump of metal now." Mukuro added. "We cycled to the edge of the Forrest of the Wolves, trekked for about half a day, lugged you up a steep cliff face and now you're in the Mountains of Mists. Only a few people know how to get here. Oh look – there's the camp," he said completely changing the subject. Remembering M.M's glare, she wriggled out of his grip – only to fall down on Fran.

"Ow..."he whined. Francesca rolled her eyes.

"Mukuro! You're back! Yay!" Ken yelled happily while jumping up and down. Chikusa nodded politely. M.M was frowning at her.

"Mukuro! Your back! I'm so glad to see you..." she exclaimed in the most optimistic tone Francesca had ever heard.

"Try hard wanna be" Francesca muttered under her breath.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...Hello. We need to start training. The mafia are one step closer to finding us – so we need to take advantage of the time we have left." And with that, they all dispersed into the forest. Turning back to them, he said "you guys can have the rest of the day off. Do you want me to help treating your injuries?"

_Paedophile alert! Paedophile alert!_ Her mind screamed at her. She shook it away. "No, i'll be fine. Which is our tent?" she replied as calmly as she could.

"That one." Mukuro pointed to a relatively large bright green tent.

"Nice pick of colours..." Fran murmured sarcastically. Mukuro grinned almost apologetically then disappeared. They sighed in unison.

"Ow. You tweaked it the wrong way Fran," muttered Francesca.

"I got it, I got it," he replied, popping back the shoulder he accidentally dislocated. "Maybe we should get Mukuro to – "

"No!" she interrupted. "It doesn't matter that we're eight, he's not seeing me without a shirt!" she yelled angrily.

"Yeah yeah, but I can't do it right. It's been what, two hours?" Fran whined. Francesca looked thoughtful and debated it in her mind for a few minutes.

"Fine." She gave in. She really wanted to practice illusions sometime soon, and she knew a special pineapple haired freak who would be her new practice dummy.

"Ku fu fu fu fu... took you a while to give in chopsticks." Francesca looked mortified.

"You freaking paedophile! What do you mean chopsticks? You've been here the whole time? How could you! You – fri – cking – arse – hole – should – go die – in – a – hole – bastard!" With the last sentence, she threw whatever she could see at him. Scissors, knifes, chocolate bars, Fran; but they all missed. Mukuro sighed and walked towards her.

"If you have broken ribs you need to wrap bandages around the chest. More than three is actually life threatening", he continued wrapping a think bandage around her ribs. Where he got the bandage, Francesca had no idea, but hey, 6 paths of hell should have taught him something.

"A broken collarbone should be having your arm down to your chest...sprained wrist should be bandaged like this...wear one of Chikusa's beanies - it should keep your skull safe...these splints should help your toes grow stay straight..." he lectured as he patched her up. Francesca didn't want to admit it, but he had done a pretty impressive job – it only took fifteen minutes.

"Yep – I think we're done – so uh..." she trailed off uncomfortably. Wouldn't it be rude to tell him to leave?

"I'll be going then. Fran – make sure you stitch up and disinfect her cuts."And with that, he left the tent. The awkward silence was broken by Fran who cleared his throat.

"I'll stitch these up... they're probably already infected." He sighed. So much for a day off.

When he finished, he helped her put on her t-shirt. He was surprised when she hugged him, but smiled knowingly and returned it. "Thanks." Francesca muttered. It was times like this she was happy to have with her.

The sun was setting, throwing a rich orange into the tent. Ken stuck his head in their tent. "Byon! We're having dinner now. Get your asses out here!"

"Is pineapple hair there?" Fran asked incredulously. He really did think Mukuro was just a little too paedophile like...always... laughing weirdly.

"Byon! Are you talking about Mukuro? His hair does not look like a pineapple...!" Suddenly Ken looked nervously around and whispered for once "I think it actually does look like a pineapple but – "

"Ku fu fu fu fu... Talking about me again Ken?" Mukuro was standing right next to their tent. Ken blushed, bowed, got on his knees, muttered a hasty apology, then walked away. "It's time for dinner." The twins nodded then walked (in Francesca's case hobbled) over to the campfire.

Tonight Chikusa started the conversation. "So...you broke many of your bones yet you do not feel any pain?" he asked as casually as he could. Dinner was real classy – baked beans. Didn't they know that baked beans gave you horrible gas?

"Fran and I are genetically unique. We can retaliate pain thirty times better than the average human." Francesca explained as if it was no big deal.

"Impressive! Even Chikusa can only stand 7 times the pain!" Ken chatted happily.

"Are you immune to poisons?" M.M asked suddenly, intentions quite clear. The crickets chirped loudly with the sudden silence. Fran decided to answer.

"We never tried. But please don't poison my sister, she doesn't like Mukuro. You can have him to yourself." It took both Ken and Chikusa to restrain M.M. But it didn't stop Mukuro from whipping his trident into Fran's back. "Ow... I think I'm tearing up..." he muttered boredly. Everyone stared. Mukuro turned and walked away.

"Come on Fran, I'll patch up your back..." Francesca sighed while dragging them towards their tent.

* * *

><p><strong>Have a nice day :]<strong>


	4. Infiltration

**I thought might introduce Squalo and Belphegor - just so that when they meet late on it will be more ironic...Enjoy Reading.**

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><p><span>Chapter 4 - Italy again?<span>

That night, neither of the twins slept a wink, so they stayed up playing with illusions, trying best each other.

"Can't beat my spider can you?" Fran asked, showing off the arachnid on his arm.

"Can so." Francesca muttered back and made a snake which ate Fran's spider in one bite. Her snake was then eaten by a hawk, which was crushed by an elephant... and well by dawn, they were up to making super heroes.

"Superman can totally kill Batman – it's obvious." Fran said conjuring up the man in tights.

"Fine. Superman's killed by Kryptonite right? There. I win." The green gem stabbed superman through his forehead.

"Not yet! Kryptonite can be destroyed by a nuclear reactor!" Fran insisted creating the powerplant (though it was only as big as a house).

"My nuclear bomb is going to totally pulverise it." Francesca made a giant paper plane which dropped a comical bomb and exploded. Ken and Mukuro, who had just chosen that moment to open their tent, saw a giant fireball curve towards them. Immediately, they closed it and covered their heads...but nothing happed.

"Told you so. I win," Francesca bragged at Fran who had jumped back and was now sprawled on the floor.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...It seem like you both have mastered illusions. Perhaps it is now time to move on to physical abilities..." Mukuro grinned. However, he was slightly put off by the fact that their illusions were almost as powerful as his. And he fell for the explosion entirely...

He led them down a trail they had not noticed before which led to the base of a waterfall about 50 or so metres in the air. There were a few stones and branches that stuck out in a relatively straight line. "When you travel, it is quickest to jump." Mukuro explained as he jumped from the water to a rock, and in a minute, he was at the top. "Ku fu fu fu fu...let's see how you can do."

Francesca decided to go first. _Get the embarrassment out of the way right? _she thought to herself. She managed to make it 3 metres up when she lost her balance due to the bandages that restrained her movement. She fell onto Fran. "My bad, my bad..."she muttered under her breath.

"You don't say..."Fran muttered crawling from underneath her. He stood up, brushed imaginary dust from his shorts, then jumped.

Mukuro saw Fran bounding up without hesitation, and decided it was too easy for his pupil. He picked up a rock and threw it at him, half because he was tough teacher, half because he was still angry for the incident the previous night. Fran dodged. Mukuro threw another rock. This time it hit him on the forehead and he fell twelve metres to the bottom. Francesca, unlike Fran had the brains to step out of the way, leaving Fran with a painful face-first landing with the water.

"That's cheating sempai!" he yelled.

Mukuro smiled. Senior...he liked that. "Midgets, it seems that you don't understand. Life isn't fair, and it certainly isn't a game. Keep on trying. I'm sure you'll get it by the end of the day..."

Francesca sighed, then readjusted most of the bandages around her arm and toes. When she stood up again, she jumped immediately. Fran gave her a second or two for a head start then raced after her.

Mukuro began throwing rocks. Damn... he missed. He threw another. It caught Francesca on the cheek. Mukuro grimaced he didn't really want hit her...he did kind of like her..._No_ he told himself. _Humans are toys. Humans are toys!_ He materialised a boulder and aimed it for the twins. He waited another second then shoved it over the edge.

Fran looked up. Crap. He saw the boulder materialise, and knew in an instant that it was no illusion. He didn't think Mukuro could be so serious – he was 8! Seriously, how much the guy expect? _"911! 000! 112! What are you going to do?" _he said (telepathically) to Francesca.

"_I dunno? Why are you asking me?" _her voice came back exasperated.

"_Coz your going to get hit first! Okay... We'll jump on it as it falls. Got it?" _Fran plotted.

"_If it doesn't work, you're going to have to keep that promise you made to me in Italy..." _ The boulder fell over the edge. Francesca managed to jump off the boulder as it passed but missed the next ledge by an inch and began to fall...

Fran jumped on the boulder and pushed off, only to see his sister falling towards him. Instinctively, he pushed her up, propelling himself down. Francesca caught the ledge with her elbows and Fran managed to land on a branch. Both twins were fuming at the grinning pineapple at the top of the waterfall.

"_That's it!"_ Francesca yelled angrily (telepathically). _"You give us some cover, I'll make illusions of us behind us. Got it? _She saw him nod. _"3, 2, 1..."_

Mukuro threw another rock. It hit Fran, but it didn't seem right...he shook it off. They didn't feel pain right? Damn, they were almost at the top! He threw another rock at Francesca but it went through her. It was an illusion! He recovered from his shock and looked for them...only to find Fran and Francesca jump on him. He used his legs to push them off and they rolled away from the ledge.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Fran whispered to his twin. She nodded at him. They got up and tackled Mukuro across the edge, but in the last second he grabbed their arms and the three of them plunged. When they resurfaced, they all looked at each other; and burst into laughter.

* * *

><p>At the campfire that night, they all began to discuss about things normal children talked about – what T.V. shows they watched, favourite foods, hobbies, things like that. It wasn't until they got to the question of why they hated the mafia so much when the tone became serious.<p>

"When the possession bullet was made forbidden...well our family was being completely destroyed." Chikusa explained. "The cornered heads of the family began developing special weapons to survive.

"We were used as guinea pigs for human experimentation by our own family...the Estraneo family", Ken spat out. "Day after day of cruel experiments...we had no way to escape."

"But then I was captured. And I broke them out...Ku fu fu fu fu..." Mukuro laughed scarily. "I remember when I killed them all. It was truly a wonderful experience." He finished smugly with a smile.

The twins looked at each other. They had been expecting something...but this was just horrible. And they wondered why the three of them were weird...

"So what about you M.M?" Francesca asked. She had wondered about that since the first time they met.

"I ran away from home. My mother was heiress to a some bank, my father was the head scientist for the Bovino family. He invented my clarinet. They were nice until they told me they arranged a marriage so...I ran into Mukuro right after they destroyed the Estraneo family, and tried to kill him. We joined forces ever since."She explained. She had been a lot nicer after Fran had told her that Francesca didn't like Mukuro – only more proof that she had feelings for him.

The fire crackled. There hadn't been much left to say. "Ku fu fu fu fu...I suppose it's time to tell about our next mission then." Mukuro began hesitantly. "Now that we have more than enough numbers, we need to infiltrate the Vongola. The Vongola are one of the most powerful families, and their downfall is certain to bring the end to the mafia. I propose that we go to an upcoming ball and squeeze out some information. Any problems?" he asked. No one complained. "Good. We leave tomorrow morning." They left for their tents as he turned towards his, he felt an arm grab his.

"Mukuro...are you sure about this? We're kids...they're adults. Fran and I have had next to no training – we'll only drag you down. And we're still hunted right?" Francesca rambled. Mukuro looked in her eyes and was surprised to see a little fear.

"We'll be fine. I'll protect you", he replied gently brushing her fringe out of her face. She simply nodded looking a little more relieved and went after Fran.

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><p>The next morning was a blur. It had started to rain heavily and they had to wait for it to stop before they could pack up the camp. The hike back was worse than Francesca expected. She really was grateful that Mukuro had carried her...<p>

It was already afternoon by the time they reached the cliff face which was at least 200 metres tall. There was only one way down.

"Ladies first?" gulped Fran. Francesca and M.M glared at him. So what if Francesca was afraid of heights? Just one step...

"I can't do it," she almost cried.

"Byon, stop wasting our time already!" Ken yelled as he pushed Fran and Francesca over the edge.

"Aaaaaarggggggghhhhh!" Francesca yelled. The water loomed up at them. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..._Splash!_ Thankfully the river had been about 3 metres deep, but the landing had been rough. Fran had somehow ended up on the bottom strangled by his sister as they both landed head first.

"Well... wasn't that nice..."Fran muttered shaking his hair and massaged his neck. Francesca's fingers had left angry red marks on his pale neck.

"What are you fucking talking about? That was HORRIBLE!" screeched Francesca. "And all our clothes are wet too..."she said dejectedly.

Four consecutive splashes erupted around them as Mukuro, Ken, M.M and Chikusa jumped. When they resurfaced, they all swam to the river bank. The water had been relatively clean, but freezing.

"So...Mukuro...I don't...suppose...you...can...conjure...up a...few towels...with...all your...bragging...of them...six hells... thing...eh?" Francesca tried to say while her teeth chattered like crazy. He pouted a little, but nonetheless made two fluffy towels for her and M.M.

"I don't suppose I can have one?" Fran muttered shivering a little.

"Be a man." Mukuro replied before walking again.

* * *

><p>"Taxi!" M.M called, waving her hand. A cab pulled over.<p>

"You guys look a little young...you sure you can pay for a ride?" the cabbie asked while scratching his bald head.

"Why don't we pay you up front?" Francesca bribed, bringing out a hundred Euros. It was fake, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Get it then!" He said happily. Fran, being the only other person who understood French, smirked. Leave it to his sister for bribery.

When they arrived at the train station, Mukuro bought 6 tickets to Italy. "Italy? Why the hell did we bother flying to Italy, going back to France, and then going back to Italy?" Whined Francesca.

"The mafia's Italy, nothing we can do about it," Mukuro shrugged as they reached their platform.

Their train was delayed so while the children waited for their train, Francesca opened her backpack. Most of her things were relatively dry which was good. She offered her chocolate. M.M politely refused, as did Chikusa. Mukuro and Ken took one and Fran took three. "What is it?" Ken asked, sniffing the bar.

"You've never had chocolate before?" Francesca asked surprised. _"Screwed up childhood remember?"_ Fran warned in her mind. "It's like junk food. It's not healthy if you eat too much but it tastes really good." Francesca insisted. He took a careful bite.

"Byon, it's delicious! I can't believe I've never had this before. I gotta try this junk food!" he muttered to himself.

Seeing as each compartment either had four or two, they split into three groups of two.

"I'm not sleeping in the same room as Ken" M.M whined.

"I'm not sleeping in the same room as Fran, I can hear his snoring from a mile away." Chikusa complained. Fran put on a melodramatic hurt face.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...it seems like we'll draw out of a hat." Mukuro sighed. Fran was unfortunately paired with Chikusa, as M.M with Ken. That left Mukuro with Francesca.

"Isn't it strange that we're all paired with the one person we didn't want to be with?" Fran thought out loud. Everybody stared at Mukuro who just grinned sheepishly.

"Anyone want to swap?" Francesca asked.

"I'll swap with you!" M.M immediately piped up.

"No switching, that would be unfair."Mukuro added. Being the leader and all, they would disagree with him. Grumbling, they all walked to their compartments.

* * *

><p>"Top bunk is mine!" Francesca yelled the second they walked into the room, threw her backpack on it and scramble on it before Mukuro could close the door. Other passengers walking along stared at them. Mukuro waved awkwardly then shut the door.<p>

"Seeing I had top bunk last time I guess it's fair..." he sighed.

It was already miles past 12, and the two had had a tiring day but Francesca still couldn't sleep. One reason was that she was that she was very much aware of the sleeping pineapple underneath her, two, her injuries were annoying – she couldn't sleep at the angle she liked, three she could hear Fran's snoring but worst of all, she couldn't help thinking about the ball.

So stayed up all night, pacing in the room, turning and twisting in her bed, made illusions, stole an iPod from another room, and watched Mukuro sleep. He was cute...the way he inhaled with a little sniff and exhaled with a little puff. _Snap out of it. _She told herself. _He's obnoxious, threw rocks at you, so far has given you nothing but trouble and...and...he carried you across that horrible mountain. He saved you from the mafia._ She slapped herself. Thinking to herself was no use at all. So instead she waited by the window for the sun to rise.

When morning finally came, Francesca went to the bathroom and cleaned herself up. Although her collarbone was still broken, she hated the bandages. So she just kept the sling. Her wrist was fine, and her toes looked good enough. The bandages around her chest were useless anyway she took them off. Finally feeling free, she dressed in a silver summer dress and thongs, and put her hair in its usual style.

By the time she came out, Mukuro had already gotten up. He wore shorts, a white t-shirt and a leather jacket despite it being summer. They hadn't eaten since the previous morning, so naturally they were starving. "I'll go get some food", she muttered, motioning the door with her hands. He nodded as she left.

Mukuro sighed. He was planning to watch Francesca sleep, but he was too tired. Apparently she hadn't slept all night, and was he began wondering if she was autistic. He spent a little more time on the subject before Fran and Chikusa walked in, followed by Ken and M.M. Apparently no one except Mukuro had a good night's sleep. _Their loss..._ he thought.

Francesca walked in a minute later pulling in two trolleys; roast meats to breads to vegetables. Everything was there. Even some pretty strong alcohol. They all dug in and decimated the food. What was left over they pocketed and Mukuro saw Fran pocket several bottles of gin and vodka. Only the vegetables lay untouched.

"So... what exactly are we going to do once we reach Italy?" M.M asked. She wanted to go shopping so badly...

"We should go find a motel," yawned Ken and Fran.

"We should go stock up on supplies," M.M and Chikusa said.

"We should figure out a plan for tonight," Francesca and Mukuro stated.

"All right... let's compromise. Fran, Ken, M.M, you go find a hotel. Chikusa, Francesca and I will stock up on supplies, then we'll rendezvous and buy some fancy clothes. Agreed?" Mukuro said. "No objections? Ku fu fu fu fu...so we have a plan."

Two hours, 14 chocolate bars, 4 blackjack and 7 go fish games later, the 6 children found themselves in Italy. They quickly made their way off the train and parted their separate ways.

The hotel they booked themselves at 'the Imperial Inn'. They bought a few weapons – poison and needles for Chikusa, a unique swiss army knife for Fran and a mini crossbow that you could strap around your wrist for Francesca. For food, they decided it would be nice to get Ken some junk food – seeing he'd had a limited childhood.

They rendezvoused at the Leaning Tower of Pisa – it was easiest to find - just a little after midday. "The party's at six thirty – and we still need to discuss our plan. So keep it simple and dress nicely!" Mukuro insisted. M.M went with Francesca, seeing they were girls, and the guys went to buy suits.

"Where do you want to go?" M.M asked. She had so many options in her mind...

"I've only been to Italy a few times, and they never were to shop so...whichever store has kids size?" muttered Francesca.

"Ok! I know this great store..." M.M started. She babbled on about clothes and Italy till Francesca's ears were about to fall off – though it was much nicer not to be glared at all the time.

In the end, M.M decided on a loose red dress that went down to her ankles. "What are you going to wear?" she asked Francesca.

"I don't know...could you help me with that?" she replied. She honestly didn't think that any of these dresses suited her...Eventually she agreed on a black dress that cut off just above her knee with one strap that went around her neck.

For shoes, M.M wore stilettos (how she could walk in them, Francesca didn't know) and Francesca picked silver sandals with a barely noticeable heel. M.M also insisted on buying a truckload of jewellery, bracelets, rings, necklaces and earrings (even though her ears weren't pierced!) and sackfuls of makeup. The bill totalled up to a thousand euro's which Francesca hastily made from illusions.

When they met the boys at the hotel (somehow they had bought the top suite, Fran must have really enjoyed himself) they discussed on the plan.

"The ball is being held two miles from here, and entry is invitation only. But seeing we have the three of the best illusionists in the world, I doubt they will notice our fakes. Once we're in, we'll stay in pairs, mingle with the crowd, and attempt to eavesdrop on any conversation about the Vongola. Understood?" Mukuro asked.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Fran said boredly.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...I have my contacts." He smiled evily.

* * *

><p>Francesca sighed. M.M had let her keep her hair with chopsticks, but insisted on makeup, though Francesca only allowed mascara, lip gloss and blush. She however, went full out on herself, but she did in fact, look stunning. They split up the accessories and M.M seemed to only just realise that she couldn't wear the two hundred euro earrings because she didn't have pierced ears. Real smart.<p>

Fran sighed in the room next door. Mukuro had insisted that they all wore suits – it was a formal party after all. But he had never worn a suit – or a tie for that matter - in his entire life. They all wore black dinner jackets, trousers, ties and shoes but their shirt colours were different. Ken had yellow; Chikusa blue; Mukuro white; and to Fran's disgust, green. Why was it that whatever he wore had to be green?

They ordered a limousine and rode to the Vongola mansion; it was HUGE. They paid the driver and told him they would leave on their own, knowing that 6 children arriving at a mafia mansion was pretty suspicious.

They passed through the gate without too much suspicion, but were held up at the door. "What family are you from?" A man asked.

"Vongola family." Mukuro lied.

"Who are your parents?" the still suspicious man asked.

"Our parents are all friends of Iemitsu, he was the one who invited us here." M.M piped up. How she knew that, they had no idea.

"What's the secret code then?" he asked. Crap. Nobody had known about a secret code. Mukuro nervously looked at Francesca. She shook her head. How the hell was she meant to know?

"There is no secret code." Fran insisted. The security guard finally nodded and let them in. So much for an invitation only ceremony...

Once they entered, they split up, Fran with Francesca, Mukuro and M.M, Ken and Chikusa.

Fran was bored. He took a martini, and it was surprisingly nice. Well...the cherry was anyway. Francesca was sitting next to him, just as bored. She was playing on an iPod...which was strange because she had never had an iPod before.

Fran nudged her. _"We have to blend in remember?"_

"_What do you suggest we do then? Everyone here's just talking about the weather."_ Francesca thought back and yawned. It was already 9:30.

"Wanna dance?" Fran asked offering his hand.

"You know I don't know how to dance, and I'm pretty sure you don't either." Francesca muttered. Mukuro chose that moment to crash their conversation.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...I can teach you to dance," he said with a smile. M.M was chatting with some other rich looking girls. Fran shrugged.

"All right." Francesca growled. He dragged her to the dance floor, and they moved to a slow waltz. Personally, she didn't like the way he put his hand on her waist but she pretended not to notice.

"Heard anything useful yet?" she whispered.

"No...but I think something's coming up here." He whispered back and lead her towards two men while still dancing.

"Japan? Why Japan?" one man said. Another replied calmly. "Sawada Tsunayoshi is the son of Iemitsu, the external advisor, and most like heir to the Vongola since the crib incident. I have agreed to tutor him. I leave in going a year - I've got to finish up with that Cavallone kid." Francesca looked up to see not an adult, but in fact a baby wearing a fedora talking back. Go figure. Mukuro lead them away. "That's all we need" he muttered and they walked over to where Fran was standing. But he was gone.

"VOI! What are you doing here you punk nosed brat? Why do have green hair. Don't you know this is a formal party?" barked one very annoyed long haired man as he shoved Fran's shoulder. Francesca immediately rushed to her brother's aid.

"Who the fuck are you? Go swear at someone your own size!" Francesca yelled at him. All of a sudden everyone was staring at them. She caught a few whispers. "Oh my, she's so young! She's so brave to stand up to him"; "Superbia Squalo is going to eat well tonight!" another muttered. Squalo looked like he was going to pop a vein.

"VOI! YOU LITTLE DIP-SHIT! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? MY MOTHER?" he yelled and the chandelier shook a little.

"Ushi shi shi...doesn't she know she's digging her own grave standing up to the long haired commander like that?" smiled a boy about fourteen (wearing what seemed to be a tiara) who leisurely walked over, arms behind his head. Francesca opened her mouth to say something rude and offensive when Squalo suddenly swung his sword at her.

Both Fran and Francesca managed to jump away, and countered with an illusion of the ceiling collapsing. Bad move. Squalo, for one, wasn't fooled. Francesca managed to catch his next strike with the iPod in her hand. Suddenly she couldn't move...

"Attacco di Squalo" the boy giggled.

With her shock, Francesca dropped the illusion and everyone in the room stopped screaming and stood up again.

"She's an illusionist!" she heard one of them yell.

"They're the kids everyone's been looking for" another yelled.

"_Run!"_ she thought to Fran as people began taking out weapons. Immersed with her surroundings, she didn't notice Squalo swing his sword up..._swish_... Fran had dragged her to the ground, but was a little too slow. The cut was relatively shallow, a dark line just above her knee. In retaliation, she managed to shoot her crossbow which hit his chest while Fran threw the alcohol he had taken from earlier on in the day everywhere. Then he took out the _very special_ swiss army knife that Mukuro and his sister had bought him and opened the flame thrower.

"MY HAIR!" he heard as he was dragged away by his limping sister. Mukuro and the others were already fighting their way to the door, and they were joined by another man – with some black tattoo on his face. They made it through, but were stopped at the gate. Ken, Chikusa, the other man and M.M were captured.

Francesca started to go in their direction, but Mukuro stopped her. "Leave them. We'll go back for them later!" he yelled as they ran across the gardens. Guards were coming from every direction, and machine guns opened fire from the roof. They made it to a building and took cover.

It turned out to be a stable. Mukuro showed them the basics and they stormed out. They had made it to the street before anyone could stop them, but Squalo and his freaky friend ran out. They were _fast_. Even on horses they were catching up.

"Ushi shi shi... the prince will finish them for you Squalo," he muttered as he brought out knives appeared in his hands. Francesca, who had been sharing a horse with Fran, gave him the reins and turned around so she was facing them. As the boy threw his knifes, she countered with her crossbow arrows; the only problem was that she only had a few left. A car came racing towards them and a man threw something at them. It landed just behind Mukuro and immediately it exploded. The good news? Squalo and the boy were forced to stop. The bad? Mukuro's horse flipped and trapped him.

Fran stopped the horse. _"Should we leave him there?"_ He thought quickly. His sister looked uncertain. _Save yourselves or die together?_ Her mind balanced...

"He's coming with us!" She yelled.

* * *

><p><strong>Have a nice day :]<strong>


	5. Escape from Vendicare

**Okay...so I'm going to finish this fanfic on Thursday whether i die or not. Thank you Akuma no tenshi 666 for your review, your criticism is much appreciated. I might just slow down the romance idea, after all they're still kids right? Screw the manga...it's screwed up my plot entirely!**

**Anyways,i'm trying to not make Francesca Mary Sue, or the other characters too OOC. Enjoy :]**

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><p>Mukuro's nightmare was horrible. It was full of chopstick and evil horses, clams and for some reason, a man with long hair. He couldn't be happier when it ended.<p>

"He's awake." A doctor muttered to his superior. Mukuro tried to get up, but found that he had a handcuff on his wrist.

"Where am I?" he said coldly at them. The superior man walked towards him.

"My name is Sawada Iemitsu. I gather you are Mukuro Rokudo?" the man questioned completely ignoring his previous comment. Mukuro glared at him.

"The external advisor for the Vongola being polite? What a surprise! I gather that if you know who I am, you can probably guess some of the things I've done." Mukuro shot back.

"Terrible yes. But from a certain perspective; a just deed. And certainly impressive," Iemitsu replied. Mukuro frowned. What was this man saying? Iemitsu sighed. He really hated punishing children.

"You're friends gave themselves up in return for your medical treatment. You will be going to Vendicare in ten minutes." Suddenly the man leaned next to his ear.

"The driver has no weapon. The guards at the back are amateurs, easily offended, but have dart guns. It takes half an hour to get to Vendicare from here." He whispered into Mukuro's ear.

"Why are you helping me?" he demanded distastefully.

"Consider this a favour. Perhaps one day I will ask for one in return." Iemitsu said and shrugged. "Bon chance." Mukuro knew that meant good luck in French...many things still baffled him, and his throbbing head didn't help.

Ten minutes later, two men in suits walked over and redid his handcuffs so that they were on both his hands. He was tempted to suddenly switch to the fourth path and kill them all, but the look from Iemitsu was clear. _'Not yet. There are too many guards here.'_

Mukuro played dumb, and allowed them to drag him out of the mansion towards a van. The sun appeared to have just risen. Inside, Fran, Francesca, M.M, Ken and Chikusa were waiting for him. Lancia was nowhere to be seen. The armed guards shoved him in the vehicle and looked the doors behind him. Almost immediately, the engine started. Taking in his surroundings, he realised that there were two guards sitting opposite to the children. A door led towards to where the driver sat.

"Byon! I told you Mukuro was fine!" Ken said happily. The guard punched his face. "What was that for?" he yelled angrily. The guard punched him again.

"Ken...he wants you to shut up..."Chikusa finally muttered to him. Ken seemed to have a moment of truth.

"_All right, when he tries to punch me, grab his wrist and see what happens."_ Fran told Francesca.

"_What? Why would he punch you? Why do I have to grab his wrist? I'm the weak little girl!" _she sent back.

"I don't suppose you have keys with you?" Fran asked one of the guards. This time instead of punching him, he took out a gun.

"The next one of you brats who either talks or moves a muscle will be shot!" he hissed.

"Really? Can we breathe then?" Francesca said and yawned. The guard stood up and whacked her head with the butt of his gun. "My skull's still fractured you know...and didn't you say you would shoot me?" she replied uninterested.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...it seems like that you're both using blanks..."Mukuro pushed on.

"That's it!" the other guard yelled. He got up and raised the gun to M.M's head. "Do you want your friend to fucking die?"He screamed in their ears.

"She's not really a friend you know...more like a colleague if you must," Ken said thoughtfully.

"Guys, there's a gun to my head, can we please talk nicely to these people!" she muttered angrily, but still remained her calm.

"Sorry M.M, but I think these people are that bad..."Francesca muttered and stood up. "I mean we're practically best buddies already! Do you mind? I really think these handcuffs are uncomfortable..."

The guard pulled the trigger. A dart stuck out of her forehead as M.M slumped forward.

"Didn't you say they were using blanks Mukuro? And keep it down, I'm tired..."Fran said and forced down another yawn. Mukuro chose that moment to strike. From the guard's side of the van, vines and flowers began to spring around the guards. They shot randomly as their airways constricted. A lucky shot hit Ken in the shoulder and Francesca in the stomach. The flowers disappeared. The guards didn't twitch a muscle.

"Good job sempai... it seems like they strangled themselves..." Fran muttered. He stood up and grabbed the keys.

"Chikusa, get the driver." Mukuro muttered as he checked for his comrades' pulse. He was relieved to find a faint but steady beat with each of them. He turned towards Fran. "I suppose I should thank you for saving me...you could've left me last night."

Fran shrugged. "If you must know, I wanted to leave you there to die. But Francesca insisted that we stay with you...You did have a pretty bad concussion." _At least we still made it out alive_ he thought to himself. He heard a scream as Chikusa threw the driver out the door.

Mukuro looked at the sleeping girls. He probably owed his life to Francesca... Damn. The repayment would be painful, he was sure of it.

Chikusa's head appeared from the now open door. "Just letting you know, I can't actually drive. And Vendicare is a 50 miles ahead of us..."

Mukuro swore. Chikusa drove over a pothole. "Turn around! Quickly!" he yelled as his head banged the ceiling. The tyres screeched as the vehicle was given a tight turn. The van flipped...once, twice, then back on its wheels. They sped away.

Fran got up shakily. "I think now is the time to mention I know how to drive..." he muttered as he made his way towards the driver's seat. Chikusa was gripping the wheel like a madman, the whites of his knuckles showing.

* * *

><p>Francesca woke to the sound of birds. Her eyes snapped open. She hated birds...always crapping on her...<p>

"Ku fu fu fu fu...Good morning chopsticks..." she woke up to see Chikusa's glasses.

"5 more minutes..." she groaned as she closed her eyes as soon as she saw his face.

Mukuro sighed from a distance. "Fran, you can have the honours." A bucket of icy cold water splashed all over her.

"What was that for?" she yelled rubbing her eyes and sat up. They were back in the forest of the Wolves. France. AGAIN.

"Why is it that where ever we go, we still end up in France?" She muttered. "So...how long have I been out for?"

"Three days" Fran muttered.

"Actually it's been two days and twenty hours... but no matter." Chikusa commented.

Francesca looked around properly. M.M and Ken were still sleeping. "Aren't we going back to the campsite? What are we waiting for?"

"Well...we took over the van, but Chikusa hit a pot hole and Mukuro already had a concussion – so he's kinda ill...We couldn't carry all of you till someone woke up." Fran speculated.

Francesca made a mental note to never be a burden again. She staggered over to Mukuro – the stitches she had acquired from the ball were so difficult to walk in...Mukuro was now leaning against a tree; pale and sweaty, but he still managed a mischievous smile.

"I see chopsticks has woken up...", Mukuro chuckled.

"Pineapple head..." she murmured in return.

"What's the plan?" Fran asked, getting straight to the point.

"You all remember that man from the ball? The one with the black tattoo?" Those conscious vaguely nodded.

"Well...his name is actually Lancia; he's our contact. But I've kind of been...possessing him lately..." he left on.

"What? Is that bad for his brain?" Francesca worried.

"The man's mind has broken... It's officially mine...ku fu fu fu fu..." He said, eyes dancing evilly. Francesca was unsure what to think of Mukuro...He seemed so kind. Was it that her first crush was really a maniac?

"Anyways," (he continued) "it seems that he's been captured. A little tweak here and there... everyone thinks he's the real Mukuro Rokudo. So they won't be hunting me...they'll be hunting you. My grand plan is to use the information we found", he gesture to Francesca, "and find this boy...Sawada Tsunayoshi. I intend to posses him, and bring the Vongola down from the inside." He finished and looked at them.

Fran looked like he was having a hard time processing the information. There wasn't much to get... but it wasn't easy.

"_What do you think?"_ Fran messaged.

"_I don't really think I can go that far... I mean killing and torturing people is one thing...but possessing them? I don't know..."_ she looked at the floor. Suddenly her shoes looked very interesting...

"Mukuro, can't do this." Fran said defiantly. Mukuro almost looked surprised. "If you need us to kill the mafia, fine. Torturing, acceptable. But we do not support possession. Call if you need anything."And with that, the twins left.

Mukuro sighed. It seemed he had been rejected by eight year olds...no matter. "Chikusa, are you with me?" Chikusa nodded curtly. Ken and M.M stirred. He knew they had been awake for some time. "Are you two with me?"

"Always Mukuro!" they yelled defiantly. "I can't believe those green headed freaks would defy you!" M.M added.

"I will never understand the human brain..." he muttered under his breath.

* * *

><p>Throughout the rest of the day, Francesca was half expecting Mukuro to suddenly appear and kill them both, but by sunset, they still hadn't returned.<p>

"_I'm hungry."_ Fran whined.

"_I know. I'm hungry too."_ She said. Him talking about food made her stomach hurt even more...

"_Shouldn't we go get something to eat?"_ Fran insisted.

"_I dunno. There's nothing here. We left all our stuff in Italy...And we don't know whether they're coming back or not."_ Francesca grumbled.

"_I saw a river up ahead. How about we find some fish?"_ Fran thought.

"_Are you stupid? We hate fish!"_ Fran sighed at his sister. Leave it to her to help them survive.

"_We can't just stay here forever. We can't depend on Mukuro coming back to help us or kill us."_ Fran insisted. Francesca frowned. Sure that was all logical, but it wasn't going to admit that. _"Let's go."_

That night, they ended up eating a duck. It had been a surprise to see it and took a while to get over its death. So what if Francesca accidently pushed it off a cliff? She didn't know that ducks couldn't fly that well. Soon, they fell asleep under the stars, and both of them agreed that it was nicer than their old apartment. That night, they had their first dream chat with Mukuro.

_She was standing in a field, and a few metres away was Fran. What was he doing in her dream? _

"_Oi, what are you doing in my dream", Fran yelled at her._

"_I didn't do anything. You get out of my dream."_

"_Ku fu fu fu fu... it seems that you don't know where you are. You are both in my dream..."Mukuro appeared and walked towards them._

"_Sup pineapple hair? How's life?" Francesca muttered._

_He shrugged. "Could be worse of course. Ken, M.M and Chikusa got caught while we went to buy food from a town. They're at Vendicare now..." he muttered annoyed._

"_What the hell is Venidicare?" Fran muttered. "Sounds like a pre-school."_

_Mukuro shot a glare at Fran. "It is the prison for Mafia. The one we almost went to? I plan to break them out soon."_

"_How soon is soon?" Francesca yawned. Dreaming had never been so tiring._

"_In about two years." _

"_What?" They said in unison. "Do you know how long that is?"_

_Mukuro only shrugged. "I plan to teach you more about illusions through dreams, and then we can break them out of Vendicare. No possession. Agreed?" They nodded._

"_I won't be meeting you in person soon, seeing you don't approve of my...functions. Keep training..."_

The rest of the dream had been fuzzy. Mukuro insisted that close combat was also important for an illusionist so they sparred. Francesca spent most of the time on the ground, and Mukuro insisted he was 'going easy on them'. Fran honestly wasn't doing much better.

"_All right. I've used too much energy", Mukuro muttered as the dream began to fade. "Use the techniques I have taught you today, look after yourselves!" His voice disappeared._

* * *

><p>Francesca sat up. "Did that honestly just happen?"she muttered. Fran sat up next to her.<p>

"I can't believe he said 'look after yourselves'. That's such a motherly thing to say..." Fran replied.

"But you're right. They aren't coming for us. Let's get out of this damn forest." Francesca muttered while brushing off dust.

"Well, I guess he will be back. In two years right?" Fran thought out loud. He stood up. "When we came the first, Mukuro said something about a town at the bottom of the mountain. Maybe we can bribe them with something." Fran pointed to a speck in the distance.

So for the rest of the afternoon, they trekked through the forest. It took them 6 hours and 47 minutes to reach the village. When they finally arrived, they were wet, tired, hungry and dirty. They needed to find a motel. They were still (much to their embarrassment) wearing the formal party clothes from Italy and Francesca's outfit hadn't really dried since Fran poured freezing water on her.

As they trudged past the "Bienvenue à l'ombre du Ruisseau" sign, (Welcome to Shady Creek) they noticed an old lady. She looked nice enough, so they pounced on the chance.

"Ummm…. Excuse me mamn, we were wondering if we could stay for a while…." Fran started while bringing out convincing fake money.

"Oh, such sweet children!" she said completely ignoring his money. "Look! You're all dirty…come inside, I'll make you something to eat!" she sang, leading them inside. Francesca looked at Fran with wide eyes. _"What the hell?"_

"_Come on, this can't be that bad, she's practically acting like we're her grandchildren already – and we just met her like a minute ago. What could go wrong?"_ Fran sent back.

"Here you go. These are some of the clothes I've been meaning to donate to the orphanage in town. You can have these." They weren't anything fancy, but they certainly wouldn't come cheap. "I'll make some soup. Bathroom is on the second floor. Take your time!" And with that she left them in the warm room. After they got over their minute of shock, they made their way toward the bathroom.

"So…..how long have you been living here?" They were sitting in her garden eating an onion soup. Fran decided to break the silence.

"Oh! I've been here for a while – forty years? I was once a rich heiress, but my father had such a horrible job I ran away and found this village. I've been living here ever since!" she smiled. "You two are welcome to stay as long as you want. Call me granny okay?" They nodded, baffled with the old lady. They figure that perhaps she was just…a little bit over the edge of sanity.

"So…..er…Granny… My name is Francesca. This is my twin brother Fran. We…er…..want to say thanks for your…. er…..kindness…." Francesca managed to say awkwardly.

"Oh you're so polite! It's my pleasure. I've always liked children. Do you want me to give you a tour of the town tomorrow?" she offered.

"It's okay…. We might just explore a little." Fran sighed with relief. What could go wrong now?

That night, Mukuro visited again.

"_Ku fu fu fu fu…. I see you're all well fed. Let us start training then…." They continued their lesson on combat and Francesca was surprised to see blood trickling down from her arm._

"_Now you can still die in a dream, so be careful. If you ever need to practice illusions, return to the mountain. You must not let anyone find out about your abilities." Mukuro warned. "Good progress… I will be leaving you now…..Ku fu fu fu fu…." _

And with that, they woke up. Granny was already up, making breakfast – a baguette with jam dipped in hot chocolate. Delicious.

"So… what are you two going to do today?" she asked sweetly.

"Oh… we thought we might visit the town. Do you need anything?" they said innocently.

"No, I'll be fine. Take care!" she said as she gave them their lunches.

* * *

><p>There wasn't much about the town. They found out that it was a two hour drive to the nearest city, not many visitors came a year, and they were under the protection of the Cavallone family, who didn't take much. They bought some new clothes, shoes, waterproof gear, mini gas stove and lots bandages.<p>

That night, it turned out that they were having pizza. Seafood pizza.

"We'll pass…" Fran muttered to Granny.

"Why? It's delicious!" and to their dismay, they were force fed the pizza. Francesca didn't come out of the bathroom all night.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Two years later<em>**

[During this time, Fran and Francesca have improved on illusions – the reality using the five senses, acceptable combat, and grown taller etc. etc. except Francesca now needs contacts because she glares too much so her eyes look brown. Now they're just a bit over 10, Mukuro's 15th Birthday is 2 days away ]

"_Mukuro, are you sure we're ready?" Francesca asked again._

"_Positive." he insisted._

"_And you're sure we won't die from this," Fran muttered. Mukuro stabbed him again. _

"_Of course not. Listen to your sempai when he tells you you're ready." Mukuro lectured._

"_How do we get to Italy?"Francesca asked. "Will the mafia still be after us?" _

"_I'll meet you in the train station." And with that, the dream collapsed._

"_Real helpful….." she muttered to herself._

"Granny, we're taking a hiking trip for a few days…..we'll see you soon okay?" Francesca yawned.

"Of course dear! Why wouldn't it be?" she exclaimed, throwing the curtains back.

They shared a glance. "Just saying….." Fran muttered.

They later took the bus that went daily from Shady Creek to Paris, and spent a great deal of time looking at disguises.

"I want the blonde wig..." Francesca muttered eyeing the expensive head gear.

"Don't get a blonde wig, people will think you're stupid." Fran warned, but thought again. "On the other hand, you can wear it; people will think you're too dumb to do anything."

"No! I'm not losing my dignity over this. What hair colour are you going to choose?" she snickered. He opened his mouth, but decided against what he was going to say.

"We're illusionists, so technically can't we wear and look like what we want?" he commented. Francesca banged her head on a wall. Why did she never figure out the obvious?

"Let's go get some food then...our train leaves in what, and hour?" Francesca muttered, leaving the store.

After a hearty lunch (after eating Granny's food for so long, it was delicious) they left for the train station. The night trip to Italy didn't seem as bad as it did, since there was no pineapple head constantly annoying them.

Francesca thought about this. Had Mukuro changed in the past year or two? They had met in dreams, but she could never remember the length of his hair, the colours of his eyes or even his voice. Dreams just weren't the same. When the train pulled in the station (once again) they found Mukuro waiting for them.

The first thing Francesca noticed was his height. Sure, he was about twenty five centimetres taller than her when they had last met, but now he had shot up to over a hundred and seventy. She felt ashamed to be proud for being a hundred and forty five centimetres...

"Mukuro!" she yelled and hugged him. Okay, it had not been one of her best decisions. But Mukuro didn't bat her away, which was a good thing. Everyone in the train station stared at them. Fran sighed and cast an illusion. The public went back to what they were doing as if nothing had ever happened.

"Midgets...Ku fu fu fu fu...it seems you missed me chopsticks." He smirked. Francesca let go immediately and blushed.

"Nice seeing you again pineapple head..."she muttered.

"Sempai...what's the plan?" Fran yawned. He didn't really approve of this...

"Well, Vendicare guards can only be fooled by four illusionists alive today. Me, Marmon, You and Chopsticks." Mukuro began. Francesca looked extremely offended. He continued. "I've made a few new friends in prison. They've already started the plan...we should hurry up before we miss our flight."

In half an hour, they arrived at the airport. Seeing they were running late, they covered themselves with an illusion and ran past most of the security guards and systems. It wasn't until Mukuro walked through a metal detector when their illusion dropped.

"Get them!" Fran heard someone yell. Mukuro ignored them. He sent another illusion of them running away and continued toward the gate. They made it just in time.

"Can I have your tickets?" the stewardess asked.

"No, we'll be fine, really..." Fran insisted. Mukuro punched him in the stomach.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...Here you go..." he said smiling brightly. The stewardess absent mindedly gave them their tickets and ushered them inside. Mukuro had chosen business class, right next to an emergency door. They lifted off after a few minutes.

"Hey pineapple head, can you tell us the plan already? We're too young to die..." Francesca whined as her ears popped.

"This plane flies over Vendicare. We parachute, pretend to be guards, get them out and go to Japan. Great plan don't you think?" he smiled darkly.

"Sempai...firstly, we don't know how to parachute. Secondly, we don't know what the guards look like, and lastly, why are we going to Japan?" Fran pondered.

"I thought you might like to go to a school in Japan...Ku fu fu fu fu...France must be getting awfully boring." Mukuro mused.

"You make a good point Mukuro...except how about the parachuting part." Francesca went on.

"Jump out, wait ten seconds, pull the string. Easy. Anything else?" Mukuro asked. They shook their heads. "Brilliant. Let's go then..."he pulled out three parachutes from thin air and gave them each one. He helped them put the straps on their shoulders and suddenly opened the door. Immediately a stewardess ran towards them.

"What are you doing?"she yelled, horrified at them, over the roaring of the air gushing out the door. The other passengers had begun to scream.

"Just stretching our legs" Fran muttered as Mukuro tackled the three of them out the door.

* * *

><p>"Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh!" Francesca yelled as she fell. She was tempted to pull the string, but had a flashback of reading a book – 'if you open a parachute too soon, there is always the chance of your parachute getting stuck in the propeller of plane'...She snapped back to reality when she heard her name being called over and over. "Francesca! FRANCESCA!" Franc yelled at her...why was he so much higher than her? And he never screamed...she finally looked down and realised: being immersed in her flashback, she had completely forgot about pulling it open!<p>

She broke through the clouds and saw snow...they must have been in the Swiss Alps...She pulled the string, but the parachute jammed. So much for that!

Mukuro saw Francesca falling – and her parachute jam. _Why do I have to do everything for her?_ He wondered. He pulled out his trident and cut off his parachute and dived towards her. They had jumped at three thousand feet, and he caught her at barely a thousand feet. He looked for a safe landing spot...A lake! He swivelled them towards it when Francesca yelled. "What the hell are you doing? That lake is frozen solid! We'll break both out feet!" Mukuro swore. So he forgot a tiny detail...

He began summoning pillows. Hundreds of them. They were a hundred feet above the lake...

"Ouch." Francesca muttered. Despite Mukuro's great last minute plan, Francesca missed most of the pillows, and unfortunately landed on her wrist. The bones were completely shattered... Fran however, landed nicely next to them.

Mukuro's head resurfaced from the pillows. "Chopsticks, are you okay?" he said, concerned.

"Couldn't be better," she sighed, showing him her arm. A piece of bone was protruding from one angle and she couldn't lift it at all. Mukuro looked concerned. He slid down the pile of pillows and walked over towards her.

"I picked up a new trick last winter," he muttered more to himself than her. Mukuro formed a metal cast around her wrist and before her elbow. She felt her bones creaking back into place – still in pieces but. "There." He said proudly. "Made from diamond mixed with titanium. Your bones will heal soon enough and you're good. Let's go."

They walked for about twenty minutes before Fran spoke. "Where exactly are we going afterwards?" he yawned.

"A lodge. The guards don't know about it. But for now, Vendicare. It's just across..." Mukuro started. They turned a corner and to Francesca's dread, there was a long but thin wooded bride that swayed with the winter wind. One bad step and it was a LONG fall to the bottom. The only sidebar was a thick old rope. "Ku fu fu fu fu...Okay...i'll go first, then Chopsticks, then Fran. It's safe. Probably." He cautiously stepped on the first piece. It cracked and fell off.

"Got any better ideas sempai? I'm really starting to think you don't have a plan." Fran sighed. Mukuro frowned.

"It's still a plan if you think it through with a few minutes to spare," he said defensively. "Here's the new plan. I jump on every second plank, Fran, you jump on every third plank and Chopsticks can jump on every first. Got it?" They just stared. Mukuro shrugged and leapt forward.

Surprisingly, he didn't fall and die. Nor did Fran. But by the time it was Francesca's turn...Well, there didn't seem to be that many planks left. She sighed and jumped. She was about half way through when she lost her footing. She grabbed onto the rope side bar as the plank fell down. She shut her eyes... _don't look down. Don't look down._ She lifted her feet onto the rope as well and slid across to where Mukuro and Fran were waiting. It seemed to take an eternity...

"Ku fu fu fu fu...the chopsticks survived. I'll collect my reward now..." Mukuro grinned as Fran sighed and gave him his scarf.

"Thanks for being a great brother, Fran." She said sarcastically and punched him on the top of his head.

"Right...Mukuro. Time to go save some people?" he asked. Getting beat up by his sister was not a fun experience – especially since he couldn't hit her back.

Mukuro was concentrating in the corner, not paying attention to Fran. His eyes snapped open. "Change of plan. Apparently there are only three guards to the entire prison. But we're going to exchange instead. We're dressing up as mafia men." _Why can't it be mafia women?_ Francesca muttered to herself.

As they approached the giant doors, Mukuro knocked. They slowly swung open and mist appeared, showing three very bandaged guards. "The Cavallone family requests you release these people." Mukuro stated. The guard took some time to read the piece of paper.

"And...the money?" he asked. _You're a man who's smoke to many cigarettes..._Francesca thought silently, keeping a straight face.

"Here." Mukuro took out real money, which was a surprise. It was in a suitcase and totalled up to...3 million Euros! How'd he gotten the money, Fran didn't want to know.

Two of the guards disappeared, and came back with Ken, Chikusa, M.M, two strange looking twins, a man with a bird watching hat and the man they now knew as Lancia. They shoved them all in the snow, then closed the doors.

"Who are you people?" Ken hissed angrily. Not answering, they half dragged all of them in the opposite direction on the bridge and shoved them down a hill.

"Byon! I insist you tell us who you are!" Ken yelled louder. Mukuro sighed. He let Ken see his red eye who shut his mouth immediately. They continued travelling in silence. In twenty minutes, they ended up at a nice lodge – it was large, and had a few beds. Francesca was too tired for small chat and crashed on the bed labelled 'Mukuro'. As she expected, it was extremely comfy. She was asleep in an instant.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry if there isn't much description or it's slightly fast forwarded, i was never good with explanations...<strong>

**Have a nice day :]**


	6. Japan

**Okay...here we go again. I'm delaying the romance area for a while - it'll show up later on. Enjoy reading :]**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 6 - Japan<span>

When Francesca finally woke up, she found herself on a plane – again. By now, she was sick of planes, trains and just pretty much everything about her life. She sat up and examined the area thoroughly. It was a private plane- smaller, roomier, and fancier than what she was used to. Very nice. Fran was sitting a short distance from her, a stack of empty peanut packages growing larger by the minute.

The man called Lancia was staring at her. It wasn't a death stare, more of a lifeless stare. Francesca shuddered. Maybe Mukuro did suck the life out of him...she was glad she wasn't part of it. A man surrounded by birds was looking out the window, and laughed an odd laugh. Behind him were to lanky bald men, with hollow eyed. They looked at her hungrily. Who HAD they broken out of prison?

Fran finally noticed that she was up. _"Sleeping beauty..."_ he thought over.

"_Froggy...why are we using telepathy? We're right next to each other."_ she retorted. Why did she just call him a frog? Well, he did look a little like one... with his tongue sticking out to catch various peanuts.

"_These people look funny..."_ was his only reply.

"_Where's the pineapple?"_ she asked. Where did they get such a nice plane? And who was the pilot?

"_Cockpit."_ He turned to look out the window. There was only a faint trace of water. Francesca took his word, and left. The door to the cockpit was unlocked. When she entered, Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa were talking so intensely, they ignored her. She glared, despite knowing that she already needed contacts.

"Hello? Don't I even get a 'thanks for busting us out', or a 'how are you?'" she yelled, crossing her arms. The three looked up, and seemed to notice her for the first time.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...you took my bed chopsticks..." Mukuro smiled.

"Byon! Don't interrupt Mukuro! You're not part of our plan..." Ken muttered, but almost looked happy to her. Chikusa greeted her with a nod.

They seemed to have shot up like crazy. Francesca had previously thought that Mukuro was an unnatural person, but Ken and Chikusa were just as tall as him. She felt so intimidated...

"Who's the pilot pineapple head?" she asked casually. M.M turned around and waved. Francesca was surprised. The last time she had seen her ...well Francesca did get her shot in the head with a sleeping dart. And yet she smiled...

"I suppose you're going to ask where we got the plane..." Mukuro sighed. He was at the high point of plan when she barged in. A mini devil version of himself popped on his shoulder. "Yell at her...she interrupted you...humans are the best toys..." And angel appeared on the other side. "No! You listen to him all the time! Don't do it. You know you're actually happy to see her." Mukuro shrugged the feeling off. Stupid imagination.

"I made it. M.M learnt to fly during prison. We were just discussing which school in the area had the coolest uniform..." he said holding up a bunch of photos.

Francesca's eye twitched just a little. What type of a guy cared about that? Take a _chill pill, take a chill pill_...her mind yelled over and over. "That one is way cooler. And look, it's the second closest to...target sighting." She said, looking at his diagram acting calm.

"Kokuyu High? Ku fu fu fu fu...good choice..." he muttered looking at his diagrams again. "Oh yes...before I forget. You and Fran will be attending Namimori Middle. I'm not really sure how the Japanese school system works, but I'm sure the principal will allow a few exceptions. I'll get you and Fran mobile phones when we get to Japan...Anything you don't have, you can use illusions. All right?" He said looking for any changes in her expression.

Too bad Francesca had mastered the perfect poker face. "No that's all...It's good to see you again Mukuro..." she turned and ran. Her voice had cracked a little when she said his name...how embarrassing!

Mukuro almost gaped. How long had it been since she called him by his real name? He shrugged it off. _That's a special one..._he thought to himself as he shrugged it off. "Okay, so we need to find Fuuta and kidnap him..."

* * *

><p>They were lucky that Namimori had an airport, or else they would have to explain why such a strange group was walking around together. They didn't quite pass off as the 'tourist' type. As they neared the coast of Japan, an intercom rang out the entire plane.<p>

"We demand to know who you are? You are entering Japanese airspace!" a man said frantically.

"This wasn't part of the manual..."M.M muttered under her breath.

"Here, let me get that for you..." Ken insisted. He changed to Kong channel and smashed his fist through the speaker system. Then it turned out to be no problem.

* * *

><p><em>2 hours later...(in a technology store at Namimori)<em>

"How about the HTC EVO 3D? Mukuro asked. "It's a neutral colour, touch screen, 3D, and according to my friend, the best phone available on the market right now." Francesca really wondered if Mukuro should've been a saleman. He sure was convingcing...

"So who is your 'friend' sempai?" Fran asked, pretending to be interested, when his expression clearly said otherwise.

Mukuro swore to himself. He couldn't tell them that Ken and Chikusa were going to kidnap a kid just a little younger than them, posses him, and use him till he died now could he? "Ku fu fu fu fu...Just a friend from Italy." He lied while sighing to himself. Close call...

Francesca raised an eyebrow at him, then made her decision. "I want the iPhone 4. White. Plus, screen cover, clear purple case, apple earphones, a two thousand yen a month plan, unlimited 3G internet, a 4000 yen itunes card and an extra charger. Got it?" Mukuro looked at the shop attendant who had been watching them for some time.

"Did you get that?" he asked the man. The store attendant nodded nervously. "Great. I'll have the same – except a clear blue case."

"That's 80 000 yen sir...and an extra four thousand yen every month..." he tallied up.

"Make that 12 000 yen. I'll have a black case instead." Fran added brightly.

"I'm sorry...Apple did not invent black cases...young sir..." the man muttered, sweat dropping.

"Make that a clear green then. Here's the money..." Mukuro muttered, dragging the money from his back pocket. Fran sighed. He hated Mukuro...

Twenty minutes later, the trio left the store, smiling happily with their new purchases. They spent the rest of the morning choosing laptops.

Ken returned just as they left the food court. He seemed to be having a hard time breathing. "We found him Mukuro...should we enrol at Kokuyu High now?" Mukuro seemed to be deep in thought.

"Ken, go with M.M and enrol me, Chikusa and yourselves. Find out what year we'll be in – and here, take these." He handed over three iPod touches with cases – a pink, and two greys.

"Thank you Mukuro! See you back at Kokuyu Land!" he yelled behind his shoulder as he ran off.

"Time for you two to go to school then..." Mukuro muttered as they towards Namimori Middle. It wasn't until they walked past the gate till they had interference.

"You have been caught on school property...prepare to die herbivores" a boy about eighteen said and glared at them while brandishing a pair of tonfas from somewhere in his coat. If Francesca had been proud of her glare, his wasn't even comparable. One look and she wanted to hide behind Mukuro already...but she stood her ground.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...We're simply enrolling. I presume the office is that way?" Mukuro asked forcing down his anger and put on a smile.

"Hn." The boy turned and left. They continued their way to the office silently.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the secretary asked, staring at the 15 year old boy and the two 10 year olds.

"I'm here to enrol these two for the first year class...Ku fu fu fu fu..." Mukuro said indicating Fran and Francesca.

"I'm sorry...young sir. But the youngest age we allow students to come in is fourteen. They are clearly too young," she muttered uninterested. "Please come back in four years."

Mukuro sweat dropped. Perhaps he should have researched this just a little further... "I assure you, they are much smarter than your average child." He boasted.

"Yes, yes, every parent says that. The answer is still no!" she almost yelled. At the sound of her voice rising, the principal came out of his office.

"Hello...I suppose you're here to enrol?" he asked. The trio nodded. "I've heard quite a bit of your discussion...if they can keep up with the class for the rest of today, then they can join. Is that agreed?" He questioned. That professor Boreen was always so wise...

"I couldn't ask for more. Here..." He faced the two so the principal couldn't see them. "Good luck, I'll come back at four. Here are some text books, and some stationery." He pulled out two green backpacks from thin air. Fran and Francesca groaned in unison, then went towards the principal. Francesca waved goodbye to Mukuro, and he waved back, before he realised what he was doing. When she turned the corner, he slapped himself. The secretary awkwardly looked away...what a bad first day on the job...

* * *

><p>Fran's first impression on the school was that it was big. Well, bigger than he'd expected. They walked into a room marked 1-A. "Good Morning students!" he barked. The students in the room immediately stood up respectfully and bowed.<p>

"For the rest of today, these two children will be in your class. Treat them with the same respect as you would treat each other." And with that, he left them standing awkwardly in front of a class of teenagers. Unfortunately, they had not been provided with the uniform.

Francesca heard a snippet of whispers "What are they? Ten years old? Pathetic!" – "Awww...there so cute!" - "why do they have green hair?"

The teacher must've finally gotten over his shock because he cleared his throat and asked them to introduce themselves.

"Francesca. I'm ten years old. No last name." She said with no emotions at all.

"Fran. That's my twin sister." He muttered just enough so the back row could hear him. The teacher wasn't done yet.

"Are you foreign? What languages other than Japanese do you speak?" he asked, interested.

"We're from France," Francesca said the same time Fran muttered "Italy." They had a telepathic argument that lasted a second.

"We were born in Spain, raised in France and Italy. Our parents travelled a lot..." Fran explained. "We speak, French, Italian, Japanese and English." There were a few more whispers.

"Is that true? Were you home schooled?" a boy yelled from the back.

"What do you think this is? A fucking interview?" she yelled back. Fran punched her arm. "Oh what? Oh forgive my language...our parents died two years ago...we're still touchy on the subject..." she muttered awkwardly. The teacher seemed too happy to escort them to their seats.

It seemed like they had interrupted a maths lesson. "Okay, now that we're settled...let's continue. What is the answer to question four Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Fran looked to his left. The boy sitting next to him apparently was Sawada.

"Hiee!...uhhhh...sensei...the answer to question...uh...four is..." he hesitated, stuttering horribly.

"What was that? I didn't quite get that. Do you mind saying that a bit louder?" The teacher said.

Tsuna looked like he was on the verge of tears. Fran leaned over and wrote something on Sawada's book making sure that there was a light illusion so the teacher and none of the other students saw him. They shared a stare.

"Two and three quarters sensei..." Tsuna muttered, reading from Fran's scribble.

"Correct Sawada! It seems like you're improving." The teacher then moved onto Francesca. "Can you solve question 5? Just ask if you need any help – we haven't studied this yet..."

"45." The teacher stared at her. There was no hesitation, no tone of showing off, just a poker face. Whispers started again.

"Okay...well that was right. Fran, can you explain this for us?"

"after you multiply and subtract the 'x' from the sum of a triangle, you can determine that it equals to fifteen. Using Pythagoras' theorem, y equals to forty five."

The teacher just stared. He didn't move until the bell rang and the students began to shuffle out of the classroom.

"Thanks for helping me..." Tsuna muttered hastily to Fran.

"No problem. Anytime..." he muttered as he walked over to Francesca, who was having a chat with a baby with oddly, a fedora hat.

"Reborn!" He heard Tsuna yell.

"Ciaossu!" he squeaked and kicked him on the forehead. Tsuna winced and rubbed his head.

"You sit with us at lunch, we have a lot to dicuss..." he trailed off staring at Fran and Francesca.

They turned out to sit on the roof. They were joined by two more people – they introduced themselves as Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato.

"So why don't you have last names?" Yamamoto asked with a laugh and a giant grin.

"Oi! Baseball freak, that's personal. Go eat your lunch!" Gokudera hissed at him. Francesca was seriously beginning to like his attitude...

"So...what do we have afterwards?" she asked casually.

"Oh! We have sport. You should join us...we're doing the vaulting horse!" Yamamoto grinned again. _Weird kid..._ Fran told her.

* * *

><p>Lunch ended as quickly as it begun. She once spotted the weird teenager that had the tonfas, and several times saw the baby 'Reborn' trailing behind them. She was sure that he was the baby she and Mukuro eavesdropped on at the Vongola mansion...<p>

The vaulting horse was easy. Seriously. She had no idea how Tsuna couldn't make it past the third level – she walked over it. "Level four! Good luck next year Sawada!" the coach yelled at him. Francesca saw him sweatdrop as he walked over to the bench.

It turned out that only 10 people made it to the 5th level. The numbers dropped to67 by the sixth level. By the 7th level, only Yamamoto, Gokudera, Fran and Francesca remained. "Are you sure you can do this with your cast?" the coach asked her.

"You never know until you try..." she replied. She ran forward, jumped, but the cast did stop her, so she went with the flow...and bam. She did a back flip and landed on her feet. It was only after she walked away that Fran told her that she had dislocated her shoulder and popped it back for her. Most of the class did notice, so she faked a pained face and added a few swears though it was a pretty lame performance. She ignored their stares.

Yamamoto and Gokudera both made it. Fran almost did – his untied shoelace brushed the box, and the coach called him out. He glared at the coach. _"Bastard..." _Francesca heard in her mind.

"So as long as I make it over without breaking the rules, it doesn't matter how I get over does it?' she asked the coach.

"No...but generally this is the easiest form...Let's skip a few levels...Level 9, Start." She glanced at the tower. It was several times taller than her...She sprinted and visualised herself on the cliff face with Mukuro...she jumped on the trampoline, flipped so she was upside down, put both her hands on the top mattress and pushed herself off. It would've been fine, except she forgot open her eyes when she landed perfectly balanced on one leg. "Out!" the coach almost said happily.

Yamamoto and Gokudera fought it out till the eleventh level, when a stick of dynamite slipped from Gokudera's pocket and ruined his landing.

"Wow...I won!" Yamamoto laughed happily.

* * *

><p>The last class of the day was English – which Fran found completely pointless. Watching the teacher make a complete fool of himself was hilarious. Maybe he should have been paying attention...but it was honestly too boring.<p>

"Fran! Stand up."

"What is it sempai?" he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Do not yawn when you speak to me!" he yelled. _"Hello, my name is Genosu Isoroku. What is your name?"_ he read hesitantly from the book.

"_My name is Fran. I find your lessons completely boring. Perhaps another time..."_ and he sat down, leaving a very baffled teacher.

When the last bell ran, they walked together towards the principal's office. He had just gotten off the phone. "Well...it seems like your teachers are impressed with your skills. You are welcome back tomorrow – go to the disciplinary office to get your uniform...I'm pretty sure it'll fit. See you tomorrow!"

Following directions from students, they managed to find the room – and knocked. There was no answer. They opened the door to find their uniform – sports and ordinary – stacked in two neat piles. Even shoes had been provided... They walked in, grabbed their uniforms and turned to find a very angry Hibari Kyouya standing in front of their faces.

"If it isn't the brats from before...what are you doing in my office?" his voice icy.

"What's your problem? We're just getting our uniform." Fran muttered. Hibari looked serious, and out came the tonfas.

"Prepare to be bitten to death, Herbivore." He swung at Fran, and it hit him in the chest. He flew over and slammed onto Hibari's desk.

"Hey? What are you doing? We're ten years old, for Christ's sake!" Francesca yelled in his face. Hibari swung the tonfa towards her neck and she managed to block with her cast just in time. She was pushed back several feet. Francesca tried to attack him, but found herself being shoved out the door and a second late, Fran landed on her. Their uniform rained down on top of them...

"Nice knowing you too Hibari!" Francesca yelled as the door closed.

She would have lots to tell Mukuro today...

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry that it's really short - i've got 3 exams this week. But i'll finish this story before Thursday! (I swear on my own grave I will...) Have a nice day :]<strong>


	7. The Plan

**Okay...I know this isn't that good, but I'm trying my best...seriously. Reviews will be much appreciated (though i don't care as much). If Francesca becomes too Mary Sue, i'll kill her off...tomorrow I hope to finish this story - and hopefully include some recounts of Fran and the Varia (like finally!) Enjoy :]**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 7 - Beginnings of relationships...<span>

Mukuro was waiting at the gate for them when they walked out of the gate. Fran saw Hibari eye them from his window.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...how was your day midgets?" he asked.

They just sighed. "We shocked our math teacher, -" Francesca began.

"Unfairly called out in sport..." Fran continued.

"Better than the English teacher at English;" Francesca recalled

"Beaten up by the disciplinary leader," Fran muttered, rubbing his chest.

"And have to come back tomorrow!" they whined in unison. Who knew school was so hard?

Mukuro just laughed. "Did you make any new friends at least?"

"Yeah. There's this guy called Gokudera, and this happy-go-lucky guy called Yamamoto, baby with a Fedora hat; and the guy called Tsuna. I guess you can call Hibari a friend..." Francesca grumbled.

Mukuro was baffled. He was having an extremely hard time to crack Fuuta, and here they were, telling him that they found all his answers by accident. Seriously?

After taking them for some ice cream, Mukuro insisted they go to Kokuyu land. One look and they knew: It was horrible.

"You aren't serious right? That place is a health hazard!" Francesca yelled.

"I would rather sleep on the streets..."Fran muttered.

Mukuro smiled. "It's not that bad inside...Ken just installed a couch and there's electricity. You should figure out iTunes...i'm sure it'll be fun."

After a short argument, they reluctantly allowed themselves to be dragged into the building. It was relatively large – but seriously old. The paint was peeling, the floorboards were rotting, there were almost certainly fleas than carpet, and a single naked light bulb hung up from the ceiling. Mukuro tried to say something nice about it, but found he couldn't. Francesca was right. It was horrible...

That night, Ken and Chikusa didn't come back, which worried Francesca. M.M and Mukuro both reassured her that it was part of the plan.

"Just out of curiosity...what exactly is the plan?" she asked.

"Nothing important..." Mukuro muttered. "Just some interferences with Namimori Middle."

* * *

><p>The next day was the weekend – though it was strange only to have only one day off. Fran noticed that there were other people wearing Kokuyu uniform's scrounging around their 'home'. Mukuro and M.M had also changed into the odd uniform.<p>

"Sempai...that looks horrible on you. M.M, that makes you look fat. Why are there all these people outside?" Fran muttered, playing robot unicorn on his laptop.

Mukuro formed a trident and stabbed him. M.M kicked him. "Ouch...was that really necessary? I'm only telling the truth..." he said sadly.

Francesca was standing next to the couch staring at Ken. He and Chikusa had apparently stayed out all night beating people up for the 'hell of it.' Ken was sound asleep and snoring his heart out. In his hand, he loosely held four pairs of teeth. Curious, she slipped on onto his teeth. Ken's hands and body suddenly grew in size, and his breathing turned to a gorilla grunt. Francesca was delighted. She removed it any put in another set. His snores came out wolf whistles and his hand grew claws.

"Chopsticks, stop playing with Ken's weapons...Just wake him up..." Mukuro sighed.

Francesca jabbed him in the gut, but suddenly he sat up and whacked her. "That was mean Ken..." she growled, seeing his claws streaked her stomach. Three thin lines of blood trickled down.

"Byon! Then don't wake me up next time!" he growled

"You stupid pineapple...you knew this would happen didn't you?" she cursed.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...you can't prove that chopsticks..." he laughed.

Pissed off, she grabbed Fran by his collar and went to the bathroom.

* * *

><p>After they patched each other up, they decided to go for a walk. There wasn't much in Namimori, but they had fun trying to read Japanese and eaten ramen. They even met Reborn, and discussed about their past meetings.<p>

"Don't worry, I won't turn you in. For now. But bear in mind...I won't forget." He squeaked.

"Blackmail huh? Well...you don't see a baby do that everyday..." Fran muttered.

It was midnight before the two began to finally feel tired and left bar. Using clever illusions, they managed sneak in the bar as adult to try beer. It wasn't as nice as they thought. But the peach flavoured vodka...yes...it was nice. They were just a little drunk. All right, they were practically singing nursery rhymes by the time they were kicked out.

As they turned the next corner, and man loomed up at them. "Hey what are you children doing here? Don't you know about the attacks?" a man wearing a Namimori disciplinary committee uniform asked.

"What attacks?" Fran hiccupped. The man never had the chance to answer.

"Byon! There's another one. I'll get him...you had the last one Chikusa." A voice they knew very well exclaimed.

In a second, the man was reduced to a whimpering vegetable.

"Byon! What are you two doing here?" Ken yelled at them.

"Just going...back...to...Kokuyu..." Francesca giggled before she passed out.

"Don't mind her...we're just a little tipsy!" Fran sang.

"Are they drunk?" Chikusa muttered under his breath.

"Maybe...let's take them back." Ken pondered.

* * *

><p>"Remind me... the plan went well?" Mukuro questioned. Ken nodded. "So why are Fran and Francesca drunk?" he asked menancingly.<p>

"We didn't do anthing Mukuro...we found them drunk." Chikusa explained.

Yep, Mukuro would never understand the human brain.

* * *

><p>"Ow...my head..." Francesca sighed when she woke up. So this was what a hangover felt like...Man it wasn't pleasant.<p>

"I feel like a hammer cracked my head open..." Fran yawned beside her.

"Good morning." Mukuro was sitting on a throne. Francesca bit back a laugh.

"I see you have nice taste in furniture," she mocked.

"Why thank you," he said happily, then frowned. "that was sarcasm wasn't it?"

"Bingo." Fran muttered. He checked his phone. _"We're going to be late..." _he thought to Francesca.

"Just before you leave for school," Mukuro started, "next time you guys go drinking, bring me along with you." And with that, he disappeared, his laugh echoing through the hall.

There were barely any people in their class that day. So, the first day they bothered putting on the hideous uniform, nobody was there to see it. Just brilliant.

"Well...since most people have not come to school today, you can all have the day free." The teacher commented.

Yamamoto got up and yawned. "All right...I'll be going then sempai."

Gokudera looked away and made his way towards the twins. "Where are you two going? Does someone usually pick you up?" Fran raised an eyebrow.

"Why would you care?" he shot back.

"Tch. I'm only doing this because Reborn said a good right hand man always looks after the subordinates when the boss is away." He said defiantly.

"Well...why don't we go to town and grab a few vodka's?" Francesca muttered.

"WHAT? What are you guys; ten? And we're all under aged, I can't drink even though I want to. Face it, this isn't Italy." He said exasperated.

"We've still got hangovers from last night. We'll get us in, you be our guest." Fran insisted.

"Well...I guess you guys are still going to get busted whether I'm with you or not...let's go." He finally decided.

They had just arrived at the shopping district when Chikusa appeared. Fran and Francesca immediately became invisible, Chikusa couldn't tell Mukuro they were going drinking again without him...

"Oi, are you Gokudera Hayato, class 1A roll call 8?" Chikusa asked.

"What's it to you? Go fuck yourself..." Gokudera turned to Fran and Francesca, but they had disappeared.

They fought. Both had put up a convincing fight, but Gokudera was clearly better; Chikusa was hit by an array of bombs.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Fran whispered to her.

"I dunno...I don't want to hurt Gokudera, he's been so kind to us. And plus, I have a feeling he's one of the 'good guys'." She whispered back.

But suddenly Tsuna appeared and Gokudera dived in front of him right before he was hit by Chikusa's poisonous needles. It was a deep hit...

"Fran! Go help Gokudera. I'll get Chikusa back to Kokuyu land!" she yelled as Yamamoto appeared and Chikusa passed out.

After a very annoying hour, she managed to drag him up the stairs to where Mukuro was beating up a very broken looking Hibari. She instantly dropped Chikusa.

"Pineapple! If you're going to beat him up, at least give me a go!" she yelled. Mukuro paused his punch mid air and grinned. He threw Hibari to her feet. Hibari was pretty badly wounded. Several of his bones were broken, and there were multiple cuts along his body. A bruise had already started to form on his mouth. She kicked his temple, hard. There. Now he was out cold.

"Aww...you're no fun chopsticks. He hadn't suffered enough yet..." Mukuro whined and laughed. "I see you brought back Chikusa. Go patch him up and drag Hibari down to the cellar will you?"

"Who do you think I am? You're slave? I'll go drag Hibari, but you save your childhood friend. He got hit by Dynamite." Francesca yelled as she dragged the half dead Hibari down the stairs, with a pleasant _thud_ on every step. She met 'Birds' halfway down the stairs. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"I must tell Mukuro our guests have are coming tomorrow...here. Have this bird. I don't like female birds," he muttered as he dropped the yellow fluff on her head. Baffled, she continued her way downstairs.

Hibari woke up to see the midget with green hair patching up his wounds...it was her. The little herbivore knocked him unconscious...he suddenly lunged at her, and managed to get his hands around Francesca's neck before she managed to choke out "I'm...so...rry...i...haven't...finished...patching...your...wounds...do you... mind?" she managed.

"Hn." He muttered before sitting back down. It had been extremely painful just to stand up...The herbivore was clearly well practiced. Most of his cuts had smiley faced bandages, and he found splints on his broken bones. "Why are you helping me?" he muttered.

The girl shrugged."I feel sorry for you. I was beat up by Mukuro a lot too..." she trailed off. "Here. Take the bird. It knows how to talk. I just spent the last hour teaching it your name." And with that, the little yellow bird hopped from her head to his and sang "Hibari! Hibari!" He watched her leave. Damn herbivore...

Fran sighed. He had been sitting beside Gokudera's bed for almost two hours. The guy was conscious, but was in so much pain he couldn't stand up. So he was grounded. Shamal walked past and checked on his IV drip.

"Shamal, don't you have anything? I need to help Juudiame!" he yelled and sat up, wincing. Fran dragged him back down.

"I just stitched all your wounds...seriously, stop undoing my work." He whined to the older boy.

"What? Didn't you do that?" Gokudera asked Shamal.

"Didn't I already tell you? I don't treat men. You should thank the kid...he did a pretty good job for an illusionist." Shamal muttered.

"You're an illusionist?" Gokudera asked, surprised.

"So is Francesca. They're both the best; they even fooled Vendicare. Am I right?" Shamal asked Fran. He just nodded quietly. How did this guy know? Gokudera quickly ot over his shock.

"You've got to have something that can help me!" he yelled impatiently to Shamal.

"Well...there is one thing. But there are side effects. Do you want it?" he asked.

"Anything..." Gokudera insisted.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry about the shortness...tomorrow will be the last chapter, and i'll try to make it over 4,000 words. Have a nice day :]<strong>


	8. France again?

**All right...I know I said I would try to add more about the Varia into my story...but unfortunately, the new chapter of KHR Manga released EARLIER (for once, go read it; it's HILARIOUS!) meaning that I have to add more details...The good news is that it doesn't clash as much I originally thought it could meaning I HAVE ANOTHER WEEK TO FINISH THIS STORY! I did however swear on my own grave...so in fairness, I got up to the point where the Manga started. Review if you want to - appreciated but not necessary. Sorry if Francesca sounds Mary Sue...Enjoy :]**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8 - Relationship <span>Revealed

When Fran later returned to Kokuyu Land near midnight, Mukuro seemed to be having a very good day.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...do want to grab a drink tonight?" Mukuro smiled.

"What's the occasion sempai?" he yawned.

"We're going to celebrate my success in advance..." Mukuro insisted.

"I'm not up for it...i've still got a hangover...and plus, saying that you'll have success will jinx it..." Fran muttered.

"He's just saying that if by some odd chance you lose, don't blame us; we have nothing to do with it," Francesca sighed, walking into the room. She reeked of Hibari's and Chikusa's blood. It felt horrible... "But I'll go for a drink...I seriously need one..." She left to change her clothes.

* * *

><p>And minutes later, they left together. They walked in silence for a few minutes, then Francesca spoke up. "Why didn't you stop us after we left two years ago? I thought you would kill us..."<p>

Mukuro feigned a face of tragedy. "I suppose...I did, but you didn't do anything wrong. It's only fair if you didn't want to...plus, there was no point in chasing you; you're illusions are too good Ku fu fu fu fu..." He flattered.

"Yeah, yeah...but I didn't really want to leave. I mean... it hurt to leave you after you did so much for Fran and me, it's just..." Francesca muttered taking a deep breath. Mukuro nodded a little glumly.

"I don't suppose you'll help me possess a bunch of people? You really should try it...terrific fun..." he trailed off. But Francesca shook her head.

Soon, they arrived at a small bar. They covered themselves (with illusions) and ordered their drinks. Francesca stuck to fruit flavoured Vodka while Mukuro had scotch.

"You know...it like my birthday in a week...I was going..to like...totally...get all of us together...and have a little party!" she exclaimed, bottle waving around in her hand.

"It that so? Ku fu fu fu fu...i'll be there. I don't suppose you know that I'm turning fifteen tomorrow? Oh wait...it's already past midnight..." Mukuro said.

"Oh really? _Hic,_then let's sing Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday pineapple, happy birthday pineapple, Happy birthday dear pineapple head..." Francesca sang horribly out of tune.

They drank till the sun rose, and then Mukuro stood up heavily. Surprisingly, he didn't seem drunk at all. But Francesca...she was on the verge of walking in front of a car and giggling at death.

He couldn't leave her there, so Mukuro bundled her in his arms. Personally, he liked the way her head nuzzled his chest. SO she was 10, and he was just fifteen. 4 years...by the time he was twenty two, she would be eighteen. How bad could that be?

"Pineapple...i'm cold..."she murmured in her sleep. "I want ice cream..." but suddenly her tone changed. "No! Mum! Dad! Fran! Look out! Aarghh!" she yelled, thrashing, but still very much asleep. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

Mukuro was shocked by her sudden change. So he did what most people would do – "sssssh. It's all right. I'm here Ku fu fu fu fu..." he said calmly.

"No!...Fran..." Francesca's yells became softer and died away. "Mukuro...Don't leave me..." she muttered before going into a deep sleep.

"Never..." he whispered quietly into her ear. He swore he saw her smile.

* * *

><p>It was seven (a.m.) by the time they returned to Kokuyu land. Fran greeted with a small nod, pleased to see his sister still alive, before returning to his game – angry birds.<p>

Mukuro laid Francesca gently on the couch, and immediately her arms stretched out, looking for him. Sighing, he left and went downstairs and opened the cell eye slide. "All right Hibari...ku fu fu fu fu... How does it feel to be beaten by someone younger than you?" he gloated. Hibari ignored him and glared at the wall. Mukuro went back upstairs to find Francesca awake, despite only sleeping for about two hours since the previous day. So perhaps they were autistic – he looked at the symptoms.

_No smiling or social responses, impaired ability to make friends_. Well...they were kind of...distant with other children. Wasn't he their first 'friend' after all? And when did they meet, when they were already eight years old? _Repetitive or unusual use of language._ They did seem to have an extremely 'colourful' language for their age. _Sleep and sensory _ _disorders or dysfunctions. _That was enough. They didn't feel pain, showed little emotion normally and barely needed sleep at all. _Autism...the sixth worst mental disorder...oh well, at least it explained why they were so difficult to look after... _Mukuro thought quietly to himself.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...Chopsticks, Fran, you should get ready for school now...– I've got business to take care of..." he started.

"What? Why? It's only seven; school starts in 2 hours." Francesca whined.

"I forgot to mention...the school sent an email yesterday – it's cancelled until they can stop your – I mean uh...the attacks," Fran said innocently. "It appears you're famous sempai...which means"

"You're stuck with us today," Francesca said brightly. "do you need anything?"

"Well...how about you guys stay quietly in the corner when our 'guests' arrive?" Mukuro pleaded. They both furrowed their eyebrows and had a telepathic conversation.

"_Who do you think his guests are?"_ Francesca messaged.

"_I don't know...but either way, should we help him, or give him trouble?" _Fran replied

"Earth to the midgets...can you stay quiet?" Mukuro asked again.

"Of course!" the replied almost sweetly.

* * *

><p>Later on at about nine thirty, Francesca went to visit Hibari. She had heard him attempt to break down the walls since the moment she left the previous day...Unfortunately he was still there, sitting, glaring, and sulking.<p>

"Well well well...how does it feel to be beat up eh?" Francesca muttered as she quickly let herself in and closed the door behind her. She cast an illusion over the key which she slid on the chopsticks on her bun.

"Hn." He muttered before glaring at the wall again, almost as if he could break it just by staring.

"You know...I bought you some food." She muttered dragging out a pork bun and some Vodka she had left over from the previous day. She put it in front of him and walked over to the corner. There, stood a very sad looking bird. "You know, you'll hurt it's feelings if you neglect it. C'mon, pick a name?" she pressed on.

Knowing that she wouldn't shut up, he took a swig from the vodka and ate a bite of the pork bun which was surprisingly nice. "You choose. I have no need for weak herbivores." He muttered.

"Now now...that's no way to treat it. How about...I know! Meet hibird!" she yapped. As if to agree, the bird sang 'Hibari! Hibari!' "Now...what's your favourite song? I'll help you teach it..." she insisted.

"My ringtone was the Namimori anthem." He said in a bored tone as he took the last bite of the bun. Francesca struggled to hold down her smirk, seriously who picked an anthem as their ringtone? Now that was just gay...

"All right then...I don't know the lyrics. Can you sing it?" she asked. He glared at her. The last time he sang, it was when he was seven. "Don't be a spoilsport..." she continued. "I think I heard it playing on the radio once..." she said more to herself than him.

"Midori tanabaka, Namimori do..." she sang as best as she could but purposefully pronounced the words wrong.

"You are a disgrace to Namimori; that's not even close to the anthem. Shame on you, shame on your family, shame on your friends!" he said angrily, one inch from yelling out loud.

"Fine. Like you can do better." Francesca huffed.

"I can so." He growled back.

"Yeah right, prove it." She smirked.

"Midori tanabiku; Namimori no..." he sang before he mentally face palmed. Stupid herbivore...got him to sing... "Prepare to be bitten to death," he ranted. Before he could whip out his tonfas, the bird in her hand began to sing. 'Midori tanabiku; Namimori no!' Even Hibari had to admit it was pretty cute. Francesca took that moment to escape.

"Well... I will be going now, If you don't mind..." she muttered as the dropped the bird on his head and grabbed the keys from her hair and shoved them in the lock. Closing the metal door behind her, she sighed. This world certainly had scary people...

* * *

><p>Francesca was walking up the stairs when Fran came running down. "Run!" he muttered as he pushed both of them down. They tumbled down and she felt her back scraping across each edge of every stair.<p>

"Ow...that was totally unnecessary..." she groaned under his weight. Suddenly the staircase exploded and bits and pieces of rocks. "On second thoughts...thanks..."she muttered as a large rock flew down and hit Fran who was still on top of her.

"Hey chopsticks! What are you doing byon? I almost killed you!" Ken yelled.

"Remind me, who the hell decided to DESTROY THE STAIRCASE WHILE I WAS STILL ON IT?" she shot back angrily. Ken didn't reply. Face it, that had been a pretty stupid decision.

"Mukuro said he was preparing for our guests...apparently he invited Sawada and his friends over for tea or something..." Fran yawned and shoved the rock off and helped her up. After a second, Francesca wobbled and fell down again.

"Damn... I bet you it's a spine injury..."she grimaced as Fran supported most of her weight and she managed to tip toe along.

"I know a pretty good doctor...Shamal or something. Let's go..." he sighed as he dragged her along.

"Ken! Tell Mukuro we'll be back later!" Francesca yelled as she tried to turn her head. Nope...to difficult.

Fran was having a lot of trouble carrying his sister. That was until they found an abandoned trolley outside Kokuyu land. After about twenty minutes, they found Shamal hovering around two girls from their class. Their names were Kyoko and Hana right? As Fran wheeled her closer, they saw Shamal beat away one of the twins dressed in a Kokuyu unform. Those horrible hollow eyes...Francesca shuddered.

"Well...if it isn't the illusionists. I don't suppose you're here to pay me a friendly visit so...what do you want?" he whined.

"Well...I may have accidentally received a bad back injury...not that you're done saving those girls, can you help me?" I can't walk that well..." Francesca left off.

Shamal sighed. "All right. Since I vowed to always treat a woman in need..." They left for Namimori middle's sick bay and Shamal inspected the injury. "Well...it's pretty serious, but not hard to fix. It'll be painful though..." he insisted.

"No problem. We can stand up to thirty times the pain of an average human." Fran described.

"This is the most painful procedure known to man – it's usually used for torture...assasinations...that sort of thing. For you...at least unconsciousness." He argued.

"I can handle it. Go on." Francesca reassured. Shamal put on a pair of gloves and pushed his fingers deep into her flesh, then yanked her spine. Francesca didn't even have time to scream...

* * *

><p>After about ten minutes, Francesca regained consciousness and thankfully, her spine was practically back to normal.<p>

"Thanks..." she muttered.

"My pleasure...I believe that there is something you wish to discuss with me?" Shamal said knowingly.

"How do you know we're illusionists? How do you know who we are?" Fran ordered.

"Hey...no point in getting all touchy...i've been around for a while. I heard rumors that two students of Marmon married and had two children – with green hair and green eyes. I presume you're wearing contact lenses?" he asked Francesca, pointing at her brown eyes.

"What gave it away?" she said sarcastically.

Shamal just shrugged. "I was friends with your parents...I heard they died in an airport...i'm sorry."

Fran and Francesca were quiet. "Thanks for your help. Perhaps we will meet again..." Fran murmured.

* * *

><p>The walk back to Kokuyu Land had never seemed longer. Remembering that Ken had destroyed the stairs, they went for the emergency fire ladder, which was thankfully still intact. Once they reached the top of the stairs, they were surprised.<p>

Mukuro was unconscious, Ken and Chikusa were talking with Sawada, and Reborn stood in the corner, adding a comment when necessary.

"What the hell?" Francesca yelled. All heads turned to her. "What did you do to pineapple head?" She said rushing towards him and checked for a pulse. There was a rigid beat.

"Francesca? Fran? ...What are you doing here?" Tsuna stuttered. They never got to answer, since that moment the three Vendicare guards charged through the door and chains whipped out on Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa's neck.

"Stop!"Francesca yelled. She had lost Mukuro once already, she wasn't ready to lose him again. But Reborn pulled her back.

"If you attack them, they'll simply take you with them. How can you help him then?" Reborn said logically.

As the mist faded and Mukuro disappeared, she fell to her knees and cried.

Later that day, Kokuyu land was emptied. The Vongola medical team took away the injured, fixed any major damage to the building and left as quickly as they had come.

Fran and Francesca waited. And waited. But for the rest of that day, Mukuro didn't return. Nor did Ken, Chikusa, Lancia, Birds, M.M or the horrible looking twins. He did however, appear in their dreams.

"_Ku fu fu fu fu...it seems I lost. But don't worry, we're breaking out tomorrow. We'll see you in three days...I promise," as he disappeared._

_The dream hadn't yet broken. "Does he know that our birthday's in three days?" Fran muttered. Francesca thought...Mukuro promised he would be at her birthday. He promised..._

* * *

><p>The next few days of school were a blur. The teachers were used to Fran and Francesca's odd behaviour, and were no longer continuously shocked by their intellect. The rest of the class had been more accepting too, and they grew close to Tsuna's group.<p>

"Hey, have you guys ever played baseball?" Yamamoto asked cheerfully.

"We suck at ball sports. I think I've only managed to catch a ball once in my life..."Fran muttered.

"Really? I'm sure you're not that bad...I hope we're playing it at sport today. You guys want to be on my team?" He grinned.

"Well...if you don't mind losing, sure why not?" Francesca lied. She couldn't care less about baseball. Tomorrow was their birthday. And Mukuro promised he would be there. But what if he didn't come?

That afternoon, they did in fact play baseball. How Yamamoto knew, they had no idea. But it was said that the guy had crazy luck...They turned out to be batting first. And guess who got picked on to o first? Francesca. Brilliant.

"Play ball!" the coach yelled. The boy in front of her aimed and threw the ball. She imagined it to be the Vendicare guards...and swung. There was a distinct crack as the ball flew in the air. "Where'd it go?" she heard someone mutter. "Did she actually hit it?" another whispered. Suddenly, a ball fell from the sky and hit her head.

"ouch..." she muttered.

She heard Yamamoto grin behind her. "Good job! I'm sure you'll get the next one!" he yelled out.

"Play ball!" The coach shouted.

The ball was flew over...and whack! She hit it! She ran towards first base, then second, then third and finally made it to fourth. "Out!" The coach exclaimed.

"What! She totally hit a home run!" Gokudera yelled.

"But she ran around with the bat..." Yamamoto said glumly. Screw the bat. Francesca chucked the bat towards the catcher, hard. The catcher managed to catch it but fell down in the process.

"Francesca! Don't be a bad sportsman, go sit on the bench!" the coach complained, frustrated as he helped the girl (the catcher) stand up.

"For your information, I'm a girl, so don't be sexist, and call me a sportswoman!" She yelled at him.

"Principal's office! I have had it with you!" the coach huffed indignantly.

"Fine! Don't mind if I do!" she screeched back and walked away, the rest of the class staring at her. A few seconds later, Fran sighed and followed her.

They were expelled. Apparently their grades were excellent; but their attitude was measured as 'worse that Gokudera', which was driving their teachers crazy. Go figure.

On the news that night, there was a story about an attack in the Namimori shopping district; many witnesses recounted sighting a long hair silver man with a sword attached to his arm. Weird...

* * *

><p>The next morning, they were woken up by a loud yell. "Byon! Where the hell is Mukuro?" Ken commanded.<p>

Francesca bolted up. "What? I thought he was with you!" She exclaimed.

"We were split up outside Vendicare...Mukuro said that he could escape on his own..." Chikusa muttered and pushed up his glasses.

"Well then, we'll just have to wait and see..." Fran pointed out.

But Mukuro didn't return that night. Or the next morning. Instead a young girl walked in; she was about thirteen.

"Byon, who the hell are you?" yelled Ken.

"My name is Chrome Dokuro...Mukuro sent me here." She said.

"How do we know you're telling the truth..." Francesca muttered dejectedly. Sure her hair looked like a pineapple but...

Chrome concentrated. Mukuro appeared right next to her. "Ku fu fu fu fu...it's good to see you all..." Mukuro started. "I didn't get away from Vendicare...and I've agreed to be the Vongola mist guardian...I can only borrow this girl's body and energy for a short amount of time. Guard her with your lives...she is my only connection to the mortal world." He turned to Francesca. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here in person...but I guess I still made it. Happy Birthday..." And then he disappeared leaving a confused Chrome staring at four very shocked faces.

_Francesca's dream was special. For her, at least. It was just her and Mukuro, sitting on a very nice hill. The temperature was perfect, the wind just a light breeze. "Does this count as a birthday present?" Mukuro asked putting his arm around her._

"_I suppose..." she whispered back. They spent several minutes in the embrace, enjoying each other's company._

"_Do you like me?" Mukuro finally asked, unable to resist the temptation any longer._

"_What do you mean?" she replied._

"_Do you like me?...More than just a friend?" he muttered._

"_I...I...Maybe..."she managed, and Mukuro laughed, relieved._

"_I'm sorry I left you again. I acted as bait so Ken and Chikusa could get away. Two for the price of one you might say..."he sighed sadly._

"_You did an honourable deed..." Francesca note, but nonetheless upset that it was only a dream._

"_As long as you think so...after you're finished tutoring Chrome, go back to France all right? To that weird Granny you told me about..." he instructed. Francesca nodded. Soon, she disappeared as she woke up in the real world. Mukuro sighed. He did seem to be sighing a lot these days...Was he in love? Maybe this human wasn't a toy..._

_He thought back to when Iemitsu approached Chrome._

"_Rokudo Mukuro...do you still remember me?"_

"_Ku fu fu fu fu...it isn't hard to forget." He joked light heartedly._

"_I request that you become Tsuna's mist guardian."Iemitsu stated._

"_And if I refuse?"_

"_Remember, you still owe me a favour for helping you escape all those years ago. I expect you to honour this..._

"_Ku fu fu fu fu...does it really matter? I still ended up in Vendicare, trapped in a glass jar filled with water...But you won't mind it I take over your son's body?"_

"_That is your choice..."Iemitsu finished as he handed Mukuro the ring._

* * *

><p>The next few days seemed to go in fast forward motion. Both Fran and Francesca were teaching Chrome the basics for illusions, and did their best to teach combat. The battle of the mist was in a matter of minutes.<p>

"All right, now don't forget this. You're organs aren't really real. Mukuro has created them from illusions, but should work relatively fine." Francesca reassured.

"Just don't break the trident. He left it for you, it's made from some pretty tough material, so it should be fine." Fran continued.

"But if Marmon does break it, keep chanting Mukuro's name. If you say it three times, he'll hopefully come around and give you a hand... all right?" Francesca finished.

"I think so...Thank you two for helping me..." she blushed.

"Our pleasure. Ken! Chikusa! She's ready. If you two don't take good care of her, I'll swear you'll regret the day Mukuro left himself behind for you! You got that?" Francesca nagged.

"You aren't coming?" Chrome asked, slightly disappointed.

"We're not coming because we're going to France...good luck." Fran yawned. They packed up their phones and laptops, then walked out of Kokuyu land.

* * *

><p>"Flight 214 to Paris is now ready to board" a voice echoed around them. They picked up their bags and got onto the plane.<p>

* * *

><p>"Sorry we're late Granny...we got lost on our hiking trip." Fran apologized. How they got away with it, he had no idea. They had been one for what, almost a month?<p>

"That's all right..." the old lady replied happily, giving them each an ice block. It was now summer in France, and it was sweltering hot. They walked back to their room, unpacked their luggage, and pulled out their laptops. Fran noticed a small picture of Mukuro sandwiched into the corner of Francesca's screen, but didn't question about it. They surfed the net, finding out various bits of information about science, technology, Japan, and of course, YouTube.

* * *

><p><em>Two weeks later<em>

Fran and Francesca stumbled. They had been talking a next to the cliff edge while watching the sunset when it happened – various memories they had never experienced...flooding into their minds. Comments they had made, nicknames they created, various characters from their past...

Fran groaned and collapsed. It was too much – from the hideous frog like hat he was wearing in the visions – to visions of grinning princes. Rolling over, he found himself floating. No...falling. That was it! Unfortunately, it was summer, and there had not been much rain, meaning the river at the bottom was barely over a metre and a half. Fran felt his skull strike a rock and fell unconscious.

Francesca's memories stopped. She took several quick breaths and looked around for Fran. "Fran!" she yelled. "FRAN!" But still he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe...she looked over the cliff edge, and say Fran floating face first in the water. So what did she do? She jumped after him.

Just before she landed in the water, Francesca flipped. It was a trick Mukuro had taught them – _a flip will slow down your fall and possibly save your life. _How damn right he was... Even though Francesca had performed the technique almost perfectly, she could still feel the strain on her legs from her heavy landing. She quickly waded over to Fran – he was covered in blood, all from his head. Choking back a sob, she saw he wasn't breathing. Dragging him quickly to the edge of the river, she started CPR. After about ten compressions, he spluttered out a ton of water. His green eyes stared into her brown ones. "Do I know you?" he groaned before passing out. Francesca just hugged him.

It took her four hours to lug him back to town, and when she finally got him back to their home, Granny asked what happened to him. Francesca covered the blood with an illusion and hastily made up an excuse 'he uh...accidently got hit by a cube of cheese...from lunch." She lied.

When she finished clearing up and stitching the jagged cut on the side of his head she satellite conference Shamal. "Shamal! Get up! It's an emergency!" she yelled at the video cam.

"What is it? You do know it's like 2am in Japan right..." he grumbled. But then he saw Francesca frantically trying to stem the bleeding from Fran's head despite the numerous numbers of stitches she had applied. "What happened? Tell ,me everything!" So she did. She decided to leave the part about the visions out; she wanted to discuss that with Fran first.

"But he didn't recognise me...I was wondering, could he have amnesia?" Francesca asked.

"It's quite possible...I would be surprised if he didn't. I'll tell you what, most patients with amnesia usually remember a great deal of things within the first few days of their injury, so it's critical. If you want to stop the bleeding, use some super glue; non toxic if you can. I wouldn't normally use it...but it looks like he's already lost quite a lot of blood. Shouldn't you take him to a doctor?" Shamal questioned.

"I'm as good as any doctor thanks...what am I meant to say? He fell off a cliff? They'd just think we were both on drugs or something", she muttered, dripping some superglue over the cut. In seconds, it sealed and stopped bleeding. Francesca sighed with relief. "Thanks Shamal, I owe you one. You can go back to sleep now..."and with that, the screen went black. Now to get serious...she video called Reborn.

Two hours later, Francesca was just left feeling more confused. So...Tsuna won, the ring conflict, then they were all summoned to the future to defeat a guy called 'Byakuran' and his real funeral wreaths, then were transported back. They probably received the memories from their future selves. What the hell? Then in went on to how this Shimon family stole some blood, started a really weird battle, Chrome was kidnapped by a guy that should've been long dead, and Mukuro was released out of prison. _Celebrate good times come on!_ her mind sang. She forced to retain a straight face - as it was still a video call.

Reborn advised that they keep it low for a while, and wished Fran get well soon. He disappeared as she heard Tsuna cry out in pain.

Fran's eyes fluttered open. Okay... he remembered that he had a sister...Francesca. She had green eyes, but turned brown with contacts, was always there for him and...something in his memory was missing. That wasn't good.

"Fran!" he heard her cry. "Do you know my name? How old are you? How much do you remember?" she asked hesitantly.

"Well...I remember you Francesca. My name is Fran, I'm you're twin, I'm eleven at last count, and remember...falling." He said, confusing himself. "I remember everything before...our parents died to...meeting and old lady...and then the falling part... Something happened in Italy didn't it?" he murmured looking at the floor.

Francesca was baffled. He was having a conversation with himself: _it's just a side effect..._she reassured herself. _He'll remember...he has to!_ Fran tried to sit up, but found himself with a horrible headache. He tried to feel his head, but found a gigantic hat that went all around his head.

"What is this?" he asked confused.

"You fell off a cliff; you had a pretty nasty cut. So until it heals, you're going to have to wear a hat." Francesca explained.

"Can't I wear a cap? This is what...an apple?" he said looking at his reflection in the window.

"Hey! Cap's aren't good enough, they don't keep the smell in very well you know...and I like the hat. It makes you look...interesting." Francesca said, struggling to find a non-offensive word.

Oh boy, did they have a long way to go.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed that...I realise that my goal in this story is relatively far away; (i unfortunately have to get up at 5 for a charity thing .) but i should have long updates on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Australian time). Forgive my typo's, grammatical errors or anything wrong; my keyboard is broken...Have a nice day :]<strong>


	9. Varia vs Kokuyu

**All right...don't forget speech in italics means telepathy, and i'm trying to make this as realistic as possible...and i'm sorry if Fran and the Varia seem OOC, in the last two chapters of the Manga they seem pretty nice :P**

**Enjoy :]**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9 - Fairies<span>

"What the hell is tooth fairy?" Fran muttered as they filed into the cinema in town. They had recently got a new release – 'the tooth fairy' and both children went to see it.

"...well a lot of kids believe that if you lose a tooth, and shove it under your pillow, then a person with wings will give you money. Other people say that they're demons...and need to cast exorcisms to make them go away."

"So...what do demon fairies look like?" Fran asked. It sounded way more realistic than some dumb person who ave money for teeth.

"Well...usually they're tall, talk funny, have weapons, know you when you don't know them, that sort of thing. Let's go find an exorcism on the internet when we go home...I have a feeling that we might bump into a demon fairy soon..." Francesca trailed off.

The movie sucked. Seriously a guy in a tutu was simply not very funny...and after twenty two minutes and thirty seven seconds, they left. Strangely that evening, the cinema exploded. For the rest of the afternoon, they researched exorcisms, and went to sleep early.

Fran woke up, remembering a few things – one, the exorcism he and his sister learnt, two, they hadn't been caught for destroying the cinema because they wouldn't give them a refund, and three that he was an illusionist...a pretty damn good one. So instead of wearing the apple hat, he created one. Not that Francesca noticed...

"Hey...get up...I feel like swimming in the lake today..." he muttered nudging Francesca awake. Sighing, she got up and went with him. Until he finally regained most of his memories, Francesca had to act like the older sister – which was BORING. She would have let him go alone, except only two days ago; he drifted to the Atlantic Ocean, because he 'fell asleep'. Go Figure.

As they prepared to go out, Granny gave them their lunches – salmon and cucumber sandwiches. Fran and Francesca quietly made faces at each other as she handed over the paper bags.

"Now...don't get lost! I made sure I didn't pack any cheese cubes...just in case okay? Have fun!" she said happily.

* * *

><p>Squalo was pissed. Now how could he not be? Here he was, stuck in the middle of France, with not only Bel, but Marmon, Lussuria AND Levi. Why was it that the only person who wasn't bothered coming Xanxus?<p>

He recalled the fight they had the previous night...It had started with Marmon being late.

_"VOOOOII! You're late!" he had yelled at them halfway through dinner._

_"Good grief...does it really matter? I'm here after all..." Marmon sighed, prepared for a fight._

_"Hey hey...Commander Squalo has something to say...have a seat Marmon," Lussuria coaxed._

_"Kay..." Bel sang both he and Marmon sat down. Squalo continued._

_"I only have one reason for calling you here today...And that is to scout for the new Varia co-officers. All of you should have memories with our battle in the future with the Millifiore... Anyways, those illusionists in the future were officers for Varia. We're going to acquire these illusionists known as Fran and Francesca." Squalo instructed. Suddenly everyone began choking on their food gasping for air._

_"That piece of shit frog and that savvy biatch from ten years into the future who were calling me names like 'degernerate prince' and 'self appointed prince'?" Bel spluttered. Squalo could only pretend to nod solemnly._

_"Are you possibly talking about those children from the future who stuck hundred of flyers about me saying that I'm a 'perverted peacock drag queen'?" Lussuria asked. Squalo nodded again. How much proof did they want?_

_Marmon looked up, utterly confused. Sure they were all completely nuts, but...all having 'visions' of the future? That was quite a coincidence... Squalo seemed to notice Marmon's confusion._

_"Marmon, you were dead in the future so you probably don't know what we're talking about...this was a possibility we learned from events that occurred in a reality ten years into the future." Squalo explained logically. "That means the Fran and Francesca of today should have the same memories and experiences of the future as we do. In which case, we can have him join us immediately as our new battle force. There's no way he wouldn't join us." Squalo finished triumphantly._

_"Ushi shi shi ...you've got a big heart commander. You're forgiving that frog and biatch even after they called you 'long haired commander dumbass'," he giggled._

_"Don't make up lies!" Squalo roared, vein almost popping._

_"Yeah, I remember he did say that..." Levi admitted._

_"That's what you arseholes think, isn't it?" Squalo yelled angrily._

_"I heard them say it too..." Lussuria sang happily._

_"SHUT UP!" Squalo exploded. He punched kicked Lussuria, swung his sword at Bel (but unfortunately missed and only cut his fork in half) and broke Levi's jaw. Xanxus however, was completely calm, simply watching while eating his roast lamb._

_Then the food fight started. They weren't exactly gentle on each other, as furniture, cutlery, leftovers and tables became weapons. Just brilliant..._

End of flashback.

They had landed the helicopter in a wheat field of some town called 'Shady Creek'. Who the hell named a place 'Shady'? The farmer of the wheat field immediately came out of his house, and began sobbing and yelling at the Varia in French.

"What the hell does he want?" Squalo muttered.

"I bet you the prince knows..." Bel laughed and threw his knifes at the poor man. Instantly, the man became quiet. Permanently. "Ushi shi shi...didn't I tell you I was right?" he sang happily.

As they continued through the town, they had to say, it was relatively ordinary. Children rang along the streets, there was a shopping market, and everyone knew everyone. It was a bit odd on how the cinema was destroyed just the previous day with no explanation. Nobody, however had even heard of a 'Fran' or 'Francesca'.

"Doesn't their like...grandmother live here or something?" Marmon muttered. He didn't actually give the crap, he just wanted to speed up the process.

"Great! You can go ask her then...Here's the address." Bel lilted. Sighing Marmon walked to the nice house that stood a little distance away from the main square.

"Excuse me, do you know where Fran and Francesca are?" Marmon asked, bored.

"My! What a cute little baby you are!...If you're looking for them; they went to play upstream in the river. If you head west, you'll find it!" she turned around to open the door, then remembered something. "Hold on a second...it's hot isn't it? Why don't you have a glass of milk..." the old woman turned around to find nobody there. _Am I hallucinating?_ She thought to herself.

Squalo resisted the urge to yell. They had been walking alongside the dry riverbed for almost two hours, and still had a long way till upstream. It only worsened when they reached a dead end – that left only one option. Jumping up a cliff.

"They're playing around in a place like this?" Bel muttered while he jumped up.

"It's not a bad natural playground," Lussuria commented.

"A normal kid could never make it here..."Squalo sighed.

"Just as we thought...they're isn't normal. They're idiots right?" Bel giggled.

* * *

><p>Francesca had to admit, the journey to the river hadn't been easy. Most of the water had long evaporated with the heat, and they had to travel even further to find a cool spot.<p>

"Grandma's lunchboxes are terrible as always..." Fran muttered, dropping the bag in the water.

"You don't say..." Francesca agreed throwing the sandwich as far as it could go. Both the twins were unaware of the Varia and Kokuyu group creeping up behind them. "What should we do? Do want to do another prank?" she asked. "It was pretty sweet when we destroyed half the cinema."

"Na...let's swim..." he muttered and dived in the water.

* * *

><p>Now the Varia had just met the brilliant Kokuyu group.<p>

"Byon? What the hell is the Varia doing here?" Ken whined loudly. Mukuro, Chikusa and M.M stood beside him.

"Oh yea? What's the Kokuyu trio and this red head doing here?" Bel yelled back. Both side seemed to settle on a single idea. The illusionists.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...if it isn't the Varia...still crying about how I whipped your ass in the ring battle?" he gloated.

"Wait! Isn't that him?" Bel yelled, pointing at a rock in the centre of the river. It was Fran. They couldn't see Francesca because a. She was practicing her illusions and b. Fran's giant hat (which is Fran's illusion) covered a great deal of her.

Both groups saw him throw away his lunch, then dive into the water, seemingly talking to himself.

"He's an apple head now..." Bel muttered, staring at the gigantic red apple, stem and all.

"So he's always worn a mask since he was a child eh?" Squalo questioned.

"Idiot..." the Kokuyu gang muttered in unison. The Fran they knew would have already sensed their evil auras...

"Does he always play alone?" Lussuria asked, as of being the most motherly in the Varia.

"How am I meant to know?" Levi growled back.

"Where's Francesca?" Mukuro mumbled.

* * *

><p>Fran stood up. "I sense people..." he muttered and turned. There were a large group of people, obviously on two separate sides, but definitely staring at him.<p>

Francesca whipped her head around. Thankfully, her illusion was pretty strong, since, they hadn't noticed her yet. _"Fran...do you know who they are?"_ she sent.

"_Na...but they seem familiar..."_ he thought back.

Francesca face palmed. That's right, ask your twin brother with amnesia about everything he's missed out on... Why did they seem so familiar? Long hair popped in her mind. A giggling prince. A screwed up Vongola ball. Future visions of them...

"_Shit! They're after us!" _Francesca thought rapidly.

"_Yeah Sherlock, they're staring right at us. Sure they're just watching and enjoying the sunlight..."_Fran messaged sarcastically. He thought...what had he learned about fairies the previous day? _Usually tall. _Check. Most of them were almost twice as tall as him...

"Ushi shi shi...we've caught the child Fran." A prince giggled. _Talk funny_. Check. _Know you when you don't know them_. Check.

"Not good..." he muttered rubbing his eyes. "I'm seeing fairies..." He remembered what his sister told him. _"Fairies are just demons in disguise – you need to use exorcisms...according to Wikipedia." _

"Onbu rakokko, donbura kokka!" Fran yelled while squiggling his body, raising his arms above his head. "Fairies go away..." Strange. They were still there, except now they were looking at him funny...

"What is he doing?" Bel questioned.

"A hex?" Squalo yelled confused.

"Does he not know who we are?" Lussuria thought while sweatdropping.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...you people from the Varia are fools..." Mukuro smiled. "Midget! Don't you remember me? Where's your sister?" he yelled to him. He began to laugh quietly. Beating the Varia seemed like the best fun he's had in weeks...

Fran stared. "I'm surprised, that on this mountain, I would have discovered a pineapple fairy." He said thoughtfully. Mukuro stopped laughing abruptly and the Kokuyu group seemed to have major heart attacks; eyes wide, mouths wide open.

"Ushi shi shi!" Bel laughed hysterically.

"Now what were you saying about the Varia being fools, pineapple fairy?" Squalo said, roaring with laughter.

"Ah...now that you look closer, I recognise the long haired one or rather, I know everyone with him. You're all one team..." Fran trailed off. The Varia smirked triumphantly.

"_Remind me Francesca...who were the weird guys in that film again?"_ Fran asked (telepathically)

"_They're the tooth decayed fungi..."_ she replied, barely able to control her laughter.

"You guys are the tooth decay fungi right?" Fran yelled to them.

Now, both sides were furious. Chikusa was having a hell of a time trying to restrain Mukuro, while Bel began swearing on vengeance.

"Mukuro...it would be best if you calmed down...or you'll kill what we came for...'Chikusa muttered while trying to hold Mukuro down as best as possible.

"Let me go Chikusa...I'm still young..." Mukuro managed in a calm voice, but did not stop trying to break free.

"I'll kill him!" Bel yelled.

"Wait!" The remainder of people yelled. Too late.

"I'll juice you!" Belphegor screeched and threw three knives. Fran didn't move. He knew that the hat was an illusion, but Francesca didn't. What she hadn't told him, was that it her hat was supplying him with energy; without it he would have slow reflexes, less mature, less bright attitude, and less chance of remembering anything.

She quickly dragged him down, hoping that she had made it in time. She did – for Fran, but two of the knives struck her instead, and her illusion dropped. Cursing, she saw that one of them just grazed her cheek, but the other had stuck between her ribs, puncturing her lung. Damn. _"Run!"_ she thought desperately to Fran, as they tried to run through water. Francesca could feel her breaths becoming shorter and shorter in a matter of seconds, and a light headed feeling. She forced herself to continue.

"Help me!"Fran yelled to no one in particular. "A tooth decay fungus that forgot to cut his hair and a bad looking guy just threw some original looking knives at me!" he yawned. They had run about twenty metres before Ken appeared.

"Wait guys! I know you're feeling panicked, but we're you allies byon!" Ken tried to reassure hold both his hands in front of him.

"Only an idiot would say tuff like 'byon'with a smiley face!" Fran continued to yell. "That has to be an idiot fairy! I'll catch his stupidity for sure if I touch him!" he said darting past Ken.

Suddenly, Mukuro and Squalo jumped in front of them, pushed Fran down and pointed their weapons at him. Francesca, who was slightly behind Fran, stopped just behind him and put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Her singlet was already drowning in her blood. Squalo was to their right, while Mukuro was on their left. Behind them by a few metres was Levi. In front of them was Chikusa, who was readjusting his glasses. They were cornered.

"Do you really want to die that much?" Squalo said, pissed off.

"Just give up midget..." Mukuro sighed.

"Not good...unless I can calm the fairies they'll kill me..." Fran muttered desperately. He faced Squalo. "That hair defies common sense. There is no human that would have confidence with hair like that." Squalo looked like he was having a stroke. Facing Mukuro, he said "pineapple fairy...I know you just got here, but it already smells like pine. Eeew...it stinks..." While everyone was just staring at him – even Francesca – he scratched his head and yawned again.

Squalo though hard for a moment. And then it struck him. What if he was animistic? "Wait a minute Fran! Do you remember getting shot in the head recently?"

Before Fran could answer, Francesca managed to wheeze from behind him. "He was hit...by a cube...of cheese...He can't...remember anything...from earlier...than two years ago..."

"In other words, he lost all his memories from the future..." Mukuro muttered, and thought to himself.

Suddenly both Mukuro and Squalo spoke at the same time. "You can have Fran. We'll take Francesca."

"Originally you were his tutor! You raise him and then lend him to us when we need him!" Squalo argued.

"Well I was Francesca's tutor too! But nnnnooooooo, you get to have her! I can't teach them all the time, I'm busy too! You guys have better facilities anyway!" Mukuro retorted.

"Well, they should at least stay together; the future's shown that much!" Squalo insisted.

"Guys...seriously, we aren't your property..." Francesca managed, as her nose started to bleed. She wanted to sleep so badly...let the darkness take over...but she needed to support Fran. He didn't have clue what was going on – and hey; she was part of the 'deal' too.

"There's only one way we can settle this..." Mukuro said seriously. "With a competition of skills."

"This is a rather interesting discussion huh?" Fran said happily. "Is it all right if I make the decision?" he asked.

Squalo and Mukuro looked at each other. That was only fair...

"I choose the tooth decay fungi!" he smirked. The Varia groaned, while Mukuro smirked. Francesca couldn't take it anymore...she fell back into the water, propped up by her elbows. It was only then when everyone else remembered about her, and realised that Bel had given her some pretty nasty injuries. Here they were, arguing about who could have her when she was dying...

"Lussuria! You're our medic, go help her!" Squalo instructed. Fran turned to see his sister covered in blood...she must have got hit when she pushed him down...

"Francesca..." he whispered, dropping next to her.

"_Fran... Don't let the Varia do anything weird..."_ she messaged to him. And then she lost consciousness.

"Francesca!" he yelled, but there was no response and his eyes streaked with tears. It was the first time he ever cried.

Mukuro stood in shock as he saw Lussuria rush over to Francesca's side and apply pressure. "I need to take her back to the Varia! She's losing too much blood...and we don't have any supplies..." he yelled to Squalo.

"Damn it!" he swore. It would be too late if they walked back...so they were going to have to improvise. He took out his phone. "VOI! You the pilot? I need you to fly immediately to start of the river...I don't care if you aren't done yet, just do it!" When he was finished he snapped the phone shut. Mukuro was helping with what he could – bandages, I.V antibiotics drip, oxygen mask and a tube. They had already sucked out most of the blood, but Francesca didn't look any better.

When the helicopter finally arrived ten minutes later, the pilot managed to hover the aircraft just above the water. Lussuria carried Francesca into the helicopter while Squalo yanked Fran into the helicopter. Bel, Levi and Marmon (who made it just in time) jumped in and the helicopter sped away. Mukuro watched the aircraft leave. Inside, he wished he was the one next to her, helping her. But he wasn't. This was some crappy first day of celebration for getting his body back...

Squalo called in advance for a medical team to be waiting for them once they returned to headquarters. In the thirty minutes it took to go to Italy by helicopter, Francesca's lung had begun to reinflate – but was still flat. Lussuria assured them all that it was normal. Since she had lost a lot of blood, she needed a blood transfusion. But Fran explained that they didn't have blood types – they were 'special'. So they managed to bag two and a half pints of Fran's blood – he started to feel slightly 'woozy' after that point. Francesca was given immediate surgery as soon as the plane touched the landing strip. Fran and Squalo accompanied her in the ambulance. If it had not been for Fran's kind 'donation', she would have died.

* * *

><p>"If you really want to know, I fell off a cliff..." was the line of truth that shocked her out of unconsciousness.<p>

"Don't believe him, I swear I accidentally hit him with a cube of cheese..." she muttered to Squalo's and Fran's surprise while taking off the oxygen mask. She groaned with her headache.

"You might want to find a better story..." Squalo murmured. "Like anybody's going to believe that cheese story."

"Urgh...what day is it? Where am I? Where's the damn pineapple? I'm gonna kill that try hard wanna be prince..."she growled, sitting up – only to find that she couldn't because there were tight bandages around her chest.

"Chill sis...that was only yesterday, it's about four in the morning. The doctors said that you would wake up in at least a few hours..." Fran trailed off, letting her figure out the rest.

"You're friend Rokudo Mukuro didn't accompany us on the helicopter." Squalo smirked. Pineapple. Hilarious. Francesca took a moment to take the information in.

"Can I go now? I don't like hospitals..." she whined. Squalo sweat dropped. Who the hell changed the subject so quickly?

"The doctor says that you should probably stay for a few days... but the HQ should have enough medical equipment in case something goes wrong." Squalo explained.

"Then what are we waiting for? Help me up will you?" She sighed stretching out her hand. Squalo instead picked her up and carried her like a sack of potatoes. She found out that she was wearing hospital pyjamas.

"Oi! This wasn't part of the plan!" she yelled at him as Fran tailed along smiling. She found it wasn't nearly as comfortable compared to the time she found herself in Mukuro's arms. Almost immediately she felt nauseous and her head felt like it had just been crushed by the sky.

A short car trip later, she found herself gazing at one of the largest castles she had ever seen. It was so...old looking. Inside, however, was filled with lush red carpets, and modern technology. Sadly there was no air conditioning or heaters – so Francesca immediately had breathing difficulties from her first step into the castle.

"Which god damn mafia can't even afford damn air con?" Francesca cursed while Squalo shoved an oxygen mask on her face.

He just shrugged. "Fran, your room is on the second floor, third door on the right. Francesca, you're room in third on the left. I gotta go talk to those stupid dimwits..." he cursed as he left them standing uncomfortably together. Fran helped her up the stairs.

"Why didn't you tell me you switched hats?" she asked, feeling hurt with a poker face.

"Well...the other one was really uncomfortable – and it seemed more of a nuisance than help to cover the 'smell' anyways." Fran insisted protectively.

"Fran...i don't give the crap about the smell: Shamal made it. It has weird properties that help maintain who you are – even with the amnesia. Now that you've switched hats...well...you seem well...less mature. And your reflexes, I.Q, pain levels and you'll probably not remember anything..." she trailed off dejectedly. She opened his door. Inside she found a new hat – frog shaped.

_Dear Fran,_

_Thought you might like the hat,_

_I made it from your apple hat the pilot found in your room,_

_The Prince._

Fran groaned. "Do I have to wear this?" he complained.

"Yes." Francesca dictated.

Sighing, he slipped on the horrible headgear.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah I know, it needs more effort...i'm working on it! Reviews are appreciated, please let me know if there is something majorly wrong, I will make them older before anything happens between MukuroXOC. I plan to update at least once a day - if not, once every two days. Have a nice day :]<strong>


	10. Day One: Varia

**All right...this one was fun to write. Thank you CrownedGingerClown for telling me about my mistake...that Mukuro no longer needs Chrome's body...Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 10 - Day One: Varia<span>

By lunch, most of the Varia had to agree that Fran's attitude seemed less bright and care free than the previous day. They were overjoyed... However, lunch turned out to be an interrogation.

As soon as Francesca sat down at the kitchen table, she knew this wasn't an ordinary lunch – because there wasn't any food and five current members of the Varia were staring intensely at them.

"So...I'm gathering you're not serving lunch?" Francesca asked. Not that she was hungry, but she just had to point out the obvious.

Silence.

"What do you tooth decay fungi want?" Fran yawned. That line caught Squalo's attention.

"We are not some dumbass teeth fungi – we are the Varia; the Vongola's independent assassination squad!" he barked angrily at them. Fran was baffled. What the hell was Vongola? Or the Varia? Last time he checked, Vongola was Italian for clam, and Varia was a type of fish...And the whole assassinations thing? WTF?

"You know...maybe this isn't the best idea..." Francesca started. "Fran has amnesia remember? I don't really know if this will affect his memory..."

"Well...I gotta know what I missed out on right? Start the story." Fran sighed.

"Our parents were both Marmon's students", she began, and immediately caught Marmon's attention. Matthew and Natalie? They married with EACH OTHER? And had kids? Now this he had to pay attention to...

"They were running from the mafia when we were born, so they created an illusion of our family dying..." Fran recalled.

"We had an ordinary childhood...games, climbing trees...that sort of stuff." Francesca explained. The entire Varia gaped. They were still experiencing childhood – and the last few days had been ORDINARY? "Our parents thought that because we played with too many illusions, it was dangerous to be around other children...so they home schooled us. We got up to...trigonemetrics in math, electro statics in science, Japanese, English, French and Italian –

"You need to learn three more. One of the requirements for Varia is knowing seven languages." Levi cut off.

"That's just stupid. What languages do you know then?" Fran teased.

"We can all speak Japanese, Italian, English, Spanish, Chinese and Hindi; then we all have a one different language each." Bel said.

"So...none of you can speak French?" Fran asked. The Varia shook their heads. "Oh mon dieu, ils sont stupides!" he laughed to Francesca's amusement. (oh my god they're stupid!)

"Anyways, we screwed up in France when we were eight." She continued.

"Screwed up? What happened? Did you get pregnant?" Bel giggled.

"What does that mean? Our parents didn't teach us that word..." Fran said. The members of the Varia looked at each other and quickly left the kitchen and had a group discussion.

"I'm not teaching them about sex education." Bel insisted, folding his arms.

"Pffft, there's no way I'm doing it!"Levi growled.

"Oooh Oooh! I'll do it!" Lussuria insisted, putting his fingers on his cheeks.

"There's no way you can let the drag queen teach them Squalo," as Bel pointed at Lussuria with a disgusted face.

"Bel does have a point," Squalo muttered, shrugging at Lussuria.

"I'm a baby, I don't have to do it. And Xanxus is going to kill us all if we make him do it..." Marmon said uninteresting in the topic.

"Then that leaves Squalo..." Bel giggled. It took a second for Squalo to realise what Bel had suggested.

"Wait a sec! I don't have to do this, I'm the commander! You guys should do it!" Squalo hissed.

"Well...face it. Bel was named after Jack the ripper; Marmon's just a baby, Lussuria is a drag queen, and Xanxus will kill us all if we pin this one on him." Levi whispered.

"Then why don't you do it!" Squalo rebutted quietly.

"I suck with children – I'm the scary tall looking guy!" Levi retorted.

"I'm scary too you know! I chopped off my own hand to learn a sword technique!" Squalo exclaimed.

"Ushi shi shi...you two can decide that later. We should get back...they're getting suspicious." Bel muttered. Squalo looked like he wanted to continue the argument now rather than later, but nonetheless nodded. The Varia resumed their places on the kitchen table and motioned for Fran and Francesca to continue.

"Okay...well Fran was playing a prank on me and I accidently used an illusion to counter – it worked on Fran, but the rest of our town saw it too. It was only a matter of time before the Mafia would find us again, so our parents took us to Italy to look for Marmon. They thought that if they paid him enough, he would offer some protection." Fran leaned forward. This was the part he couldn't remember...

"When we got to Italy, we were split up from our parents and when we found them again...they were dead. So we got out of the airport to look for Marmon, but we didn't have any real money to pay him..." Francesca trailed off, looking at the baby. Marmon felt slightly guilty but his composure remained. "One of the mafia families finally caught up with us, and we were cornered. Then Mukuro arrived, killed them off and we joined him and his gang instead...we went back to France, but I got hit by a car. When I woke up, I was on the mountain where you found us. After a day, Mukuro made a plan to infiltrate the Vongola – by a ball or something...We went, but our plan failed when you bumped into Fran..." she said, looking incredulously at Squalo. He frowned. So they were the insolent bastards that he didn't manage to kill...

"We got away, but then Mukuro was injured so we gave ourselves up. We were on our way to Vendicare when we hijacked the van and got away. For some reason, we went back to France. But...we split from Mukuro's group because we didn't support his whole possessing usage. We made our way to 'Shady Creek' and met Granny, who practically became our grandmother after we said hello." Francesca shrugged.

"So she's not actually your grandmother?" Squalo said, relieved. Now breaking the news that the pilot may've accidentally killed her wouldn't be so hard...

"No...but she was really nice. She was more like... a second mother..." Francesca trailed off. Squalo gulped.

"Anyways, Mukuro's gang got caught in Vendicare when they were shopping so after two years of 'dream training' with Mukuro, we went to break them out. We went parachuting in the Swiss Alps, but my parachute jammed, so I broke my arm," Francesca muttered, holding up her metallic cast. "It was a success so we went to Japan. Mukuro wanted to possess a guy called Tsuna, so we went to high school for about a week. The principal expelled us we were just too weird...Then Mukuro got dragged off to Vendicare. Their escape plan was failing half way through, so he left himself as bait so his friends could escape. Then, this really weird girl Chrome comes and claims she's the link to Mukuro so we tutor her for these ring battles..." she murmured, pausing for a moment to think about what had happened.

Squalo nodded at his comrades. The shame from losing to a group of teenagers was still overpowering...Francesca picked up where she left off. "Ah...that's right. Fran and I went back to France – Mukuro's orders. We stayed for a few days, but on a hiking trip, we got our visions. Fran accidentally fell off a cliff halfway through, hit his head on a rock, and got amnesia. The hat's got special properties..." Francesca sighed, waving her hand at the giant frog.

"Anyways, I couldn't think of anything to say to Granny other than 'hit be a cube of cheese' and well...people ask questions if you tell them you fell off a cliff. So, I patched him up, talked with Shamal and Reborn and...well that's when we meet you." She finished with a large breath. "Anything else?"

"Why do you have chopsticks in your hair, savvy biatch?" Bel asked, interested.

"Coz I can you self proclaimed prince." She replied simply.

"Why did he think we're tooth decay fungi?" Lussuria piped up.

"Well...the other day we went to see this movie; 'the tooth fairy' and it sucked. The box office wouldn't give us a refund so we blew it up. Fran asked what a fairy was, and I said it was a demon in disguise...no offence, but you guys do look pretty demonic. So...he put two and two together and...viola." she replied casually.

"So then...how much more have you remembered Fran?" Levi asked.

"I... I don't know...When I woke up I remembered everything before our parent's death and before we met that pineapple guy Francesca was talking about...but now I remember most of the things I learnt, fairies aren't real, and I can make pretty sweet illusions." He stated. The Varia shot glances at each other. They were both useless. Sure they could use illusions and walk, but they were still weak from their initial encounter; plus Fran had almost no idea about the Mafia, seeing he had lost his memories of the future. With that, the meeting adjourned.

* * *

><p><em><span>Later that day<span>_

Francesca was pissed. When Squalo broke the news of her 'Granny's' death, she didn't react more than a 'huh.' To make matters worse; as of her sudden 'injury', the Varia pilot hadn't been able pack everything for them. Sure her laptop and phone were there (45 missed calls from one Mukuro Rokudo) but many of her toiletries weren't there. Things such a hairbrush, shampoo and conditioner...The only option was to 'borrow' some from one of the other Varia members. Luckily, they were all at a briefing at the Vongola mansion.

Dragging Fran along with her, they walked to the first room. Bel's room. It had been bolted shut, but with Fran's help, they managed to pick the lock. At first glance, Francesca had to say, it was messy. There were clothes strewn on the floor, music blared from the stereo, lolly wrappers were strewn across every inch of the room, and hundreds of knives stuck out at odd angles. Taking a cautious step forward, immediately a single strand of her fringe was cut. Of course...wires. They were probably attached to every knife on the wall...Sighing, she turned and left. It wasn't as if Bel had nice hair anyway...

The next room they broke into was Levi's. Inside, it was neat, but there was a portrait of Xanxus. No...portrait didn't explain it very well. The whole room was DEDICATED to Xanxus. Even his name was encrypted into the wallpaper... Under the bed, there were a few playboy magazines.

"Why does he keep them under his bed?" Fran asked.

"I dunno...why does he like looking at naked women?" Francesca replied, confused. Fran shuddered as they left.

As they walked down the corridor, there was a sign on the next door. _'Lussuria,'_ it said, in flowy handwriting. They didn't even bother. And as far as they were concerned, Marmon didn't have hair.

The last room on the floor was Squalo's. It had a 'KEEP OUT' sign with a picture of a shark. Interesting...After they broke in, they noticed that it was unique compared to the others – he had a fish tank full of piranhas, truckload of sword related materials, and luckily for Fran and Francesca, a whole corner dedicated to hair products. There were countless bottles of shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner, bobby pins, special hairdresser scissors, hair straighteners, gel, combs, hair growth vitamins, a 'Bad Hair Day?' book, reports on the best hair products, cologne, and a very large mirror. Smirking, Francesca took what she needed, took a picture for blackmail, and left.

* * *

><p>That night, when the Varia returned, they provided them with their uniform. "We've never had a girl in the Varia before, so Lussuria picked your outfit." Squalo said casually. Lussuria stepped forward with a varia coat, short mini skirt, and stockings. Fran's uniform was in his other hand; a coat and trousers. Gross. It was summer, and they still had to wear that?<p>

"You can have these belts too..." Lussuria sang, handing over the strips of leather.

"Are you people Goths or something? Why's everything black..." Fran muttered. Squalo glared.

"Black's good for camouflage, doesn't make you look gay, and stains don't really show." He insisted.

"You look gay already," Francesca murmured under her breath.

"Ushi shi shi...What was that?" Bel giggled evilly.

"Oh nothing..." she said smiling innocently. "What's for dinner?"

"Steak." The Varia said while groaning in unison.

"What's so bad about steak?" Fran asked. It was pretty good the last time he had it...

"Xanxus is picky about everything he eats...so he fired all the chefs. He ONLY eats steak. So we have to make his steak to his perfection every single day...breakfast, lunch and dinner." Squalo ranted.

"And it takes so much effort and time to make that we're just not make that we're not bothered cooking anything else."Lussuria added.

"We've been eating steak for the past seven months..." Bel sighed.

"I haven't even seen a vegetable in so long..." Levi said sadly.

"Steak fails deliver nutrition" Marmon said, sprouting up the fact.

"Can't you just get takeaway for yourselves?" Francesca said logically.

"We're hitmen. We don't eat food that wasn't prepared by people we trust." Squalo shrugged.

"Fail..." the twins muttered in unison. That night, they helped prepare the steaks. It was disgusting. Xanxus liked rare steak – meaning 75% of the meat was just RAW. Plus, he insisted on soft beef which Europe sadly didn't offer, so they had to tenderise the steaks themselves. They took turns punching the flabby thing. Last but not least, they sprinkled a shower of herbs that didn't even taste good together – rosemary, basil, salt, extra pepper, mint and a bay leaf. Then they went out to dinner.

"How can you fucking like this?" Fran yelled to Xanxus as he took his first bite. They had spent two hours on it, and it tasted like shit. Xanxus ignored him.

"Do you like eating shit?" Francesca asked after she spat out her beef.

"Scum. Will you shut up?" Xanxus yelled and aimed the two pistols for the two twins. The remaining members of the Varia tried to take cover. Xanxus fired. Thankfully, Xanxus had been hungry and his shots had less energy. Nonetheless, Fran and Francesca made a combined illusionary barrier, and hoped that it was strong enough. If it broke...well they would die as well. Fran suddenly faltered a little. A small crack showed up on their barrier, quickly followed by another.

"I'm too fucking young to die!" Francesca yelled, increasing the barrier's power. Slowly, the fire dispersed. Xanxus calmly started eating his steak again. The twins left hastily. "Are you all right?" she asked Fran quickly.

"I remember...everything..." he whispered, staring at the wall.

* * *

><p>That night, she used Google Maps to find out where they were. Squalo insisted that they stay in the HQ until their health returned. But hey, Fran and Francesca figured that it was probably more dangerous to be next to Xanxus than Mother Nature. It turned out that they were about ten miles from Naples – they were currently somewhere in the middle of a forest, and apparently Google didn't know about it.<p>

At one o'clock, they heard Bel's music finally snap off, and figured he went to bed. Creeping quietly down the stone stairs, they explored the silent castle. There wasn't much to see. Hungry for not having eaten since breakfast, they crept into the Kitchen. To their dismay, there was nothing except for steak. _Damn Xanxus..._Francesca thought.

"You want to go shopping?" Fran yawned.

"Sure, but the nearest town is like...what. Ten miles from here?" Francesca pointed out.

"Yeah...but there should be a garage downstairs right?" Fran said logically.

"All right...it'll be nice to see the area..." Francesca muttered back.

They crept underground, and found a heavy metal door, controlled by a password.

Who am I?

"Okay..." Fran muttered

"Well...assuming that it's one of the Varia officers...only Squalo's name fits...try that." Francesca replied.

"Have a safe journey," a robotic voice said as the door slid open. Walking in, the lights automatically flicked on, one after the other. The garage was amazing. There were a large variety of cars – from limos to Ferrari's. But something else caught their eye. Something even better. A motorcycle.

* * *

><p>"YYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Francesca yelled over the roaring wind. They were both wearing leather jackets and helmets they had conveniently found in the garage – though several sizes too big. They were currently travelling at a hundred miles an hour, and Francesca could pray for was that Fran didn't go over a pothole...<p>

In no time at all, they had arrived in Naples, but it was a disaster. "Brake." Francesca whispered as they curved into a dead end. They still rushed forward. "BRAKE!" she yelled into his ear.

"I don't know how?" Fran spluttered. "JUMP!" Seconds before they hit a brick wall, they leapt from the roaring vehicle. It crashed in a flash of sparks and became nothing more than a lump of metal. They both rolled about, and finally came to a stop. Fran luckily landed on his hat, while Francesca unfortunately dislocated both shoulders and scratched both knees badly.

"Can't you mention that before we're about to crash and die?" Francesca growled, sitting up.

"Yeah yeah...How're we going to get back?" Fran muttered readjusting his hat.

"We can think of something later...come on, let's go grab a bite..." Francesca sighed, and pulled out spare bandages from her pockets.

Cleverly, they had forgotten that the rest of Italy was asleep at three in the morning, and sadly could not find an open restaurant. They did however; find a 24hr convenience store. They stocked up on everything – instant noodles, frozen foods, eggs, bacon, coffee, vegetables, fruits, flour, sugar, pots, pans, socks, shirts, bandages, sticky tape, milk, cocoa powder, bread and every snack they could see. There was no way they were ever going to eat Xanxus' horrible steak. They paid for their purchases and left the store.

"Okay. Is now the time where we can think about how we're going to get home?" Fran asked.

"All right...do you want to call Squalo?" Francesca gave in. Fran sighed glumly, but nodded.

* * *

><p>Squalo was sleeping well for the first time since the ring conflict. He saw himself defeating Tyr, the previous Varia leader. The dying man opened his mouth to speak his last words that Squalo heard every time he had the dream – "Make the Varia great" but instead, the dream Squalo heard "I'm not afraid... to take a stand...everybody...come take my hand..." His eyes snapped open. There was his phone, ringing on his bedside table. The illuminated screen read 1:37am. Angrily, he saw it was Fran's number.<p>

"VOI! What the hell are you calling so early in the morning for? Aren't you just next door?" Squalo roared.

"Shut up!" He heard from Bel's room.

"Stop disturbing my beauty sleep!" another voice yelled.

"WHY DON'T YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND SLEEP!" Squalo yelled. He put the phone to his ear. "Speak." He muttered, resisting the urge to crush the phone.

"We may have decided to take a walk...so um...we need a ride back," Francesca's voice came through.

"Oh...and we may have destroyed a motorcycle from downstairs!" Fran piped up. Squalo's eyebrow began to twitch. Not only had they broken his orders, woken him up at this ungodly hour, had the guts to break through his security system and break his motorcycle and still ask for a ride?

"No way! I'll kill you for breaking my motocycle!" Squalo hissed.

"Now now...that's no way to put it...I do have a great picture of your corner of hair products..." Francesca mischievously said.

"And we have real food..." Fran added hopefully. Squalo sighed and flicked the phone shut. Damn brats...outsmarting a strategy captain...even Bel hadn't managed to do that yet...

Squalo wasn't bothered to change, so he walked down to the garage in his black long sleeved silk pyjamas. He picked the fastest car – a black Bugatti Veyron super sport, and started the ignition. He drove at 200/mph for a few seconds, but accidently ran over a rabbit. Ah well, it was the rabbits fault anyway, going on the road at this time of night...But he still slowed down. He picked up his cell phone and dialled Fran's number.

"Hey Squalo...how much longer? There's this guy in a car that's watching us...I think he's wearing black pyjamas..." Fran muttered.

"You dipshit! That's me!" he yelled and opened the door. Fran and Francesca were surrounded by shopping bags filled with...food. Real food... He snapped out of his daydreaming. "Can you get in the car already?" he yelled to them.

* * *

><p>Francesca really thought the world had ended when she saw Squalo's pyjamas. She couldn't believe he slept in a night cap...They each carried about four bags in each hand and lugged into the car. The Bugatti had been really designed for speed and comfort for ONE person, not three and numerous shopping bags, so they took a seat on the roof.<p>

"Are you sure this is safe?" she whispered to Fran.

"I have no idea..." he replied, worried.

"You brats will be fine...Bel does it all the time." Squalo growled and pulled into first gear. Francesca could practically feel her face peeling off. They had been clinging onto spoiler at the back and boy did that car give off nasty fumes.

"I swear that if I survive I'll care more for the environment...I think I finally know how it feels..." Fran yelled over the wind. Francesca grinned. It was great to have the old Fran back.

It took Squalo ten minutes to get back, park the car, put away the new groceries and make sure the Fran and Francesca were going to bed. He finally collapsed into his four poster bed and sighed.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, he heard a knock on his door. It was Francesca.<p>

"What is it now?" he hissed angrily. He felt soooooo tired.

"Can you help me make breakfast? I think I burned off most of Fran's eyebrows..." she trailed off. Squalo sighed once again. These children were going to be the end of the Varia...

"Whatever. Don't burn the castle down. I'm sure you'll figure it out." Squalo glared and slammed the door in her face. Two hours later when his alarm went off, he was practically ready to bash his head on a wall. Angrily, he wore his uniform, brushed his teeth, straightened his hair and put in some leave in conditioner. Perfect. Walking downstairs, he smelt something heavenly...toast. It was tasteless, but it had been so long since he had smelt something nicer than steak...

Walking into the kitchen, he saw that Bel, Lussuria and Levi were already up and eating breakfast. The twins had made toast with honey, fried eggs, bacon and pancakes. A fresh batch of coffee lay on the table. Behind him, Marmon walked in. "Real food eh? Well, might as well eat it before Bel eats it all..." the baby muttered.

Squalo absent mindedly sat down, staring at the food in front of him.

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><p><strong>Well...its been a long week or so...reviews are appreciated; Have a nice day :]<strong>


	11. Mission no1

**Damn...I have school tomorrow. This chapter dwells a little bit on why Mukuro like Francesca - so it make more sense. The rest is just drabble about their experiences with the Varia. Reviews are much appreciated. Enjoy :]**

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><p><span>Chapter 11 - Varia Trials<span>

Mukuro had never believed in love; or romance for that matter. Just look where love had gotten Romeo and Juliet. Dead. But the one thing he realised that was true after countless years of researching...soul mates. A soul mate was meant to be the 'other you'. Mukuro had lived many lives, and every time he had failed to find a soul mate, therefore failing to bring his power to a full potential. But finally, FINALLY, he had found the perfect person. Francesca.

There were many things that he would never tell her, how he stalked hundreds of eligible girls (and as a last resort, guys) only to find her as the shining star. He would never tell her that he had killed her parents to organise their meeting. Nor did he tell her that the only reason he didn't kill Fran was because it would make her miserable.

Many girls; in this life and others; had fallen for him. They liked his looks, his bad ass attitude, or even his laugh. M.M for instance was crossed off the list because she cared too much about money. Chrome was beautiful, clever, brave and caring, but Mukuro still thought she was too weak. He only cared for her as a sister, nothing more. But Francesca didn't like him because of any of those reasons. She like him for his personality – the side not many people believed in.

That is why Mukuro Rokudo had fallen for her. He had almost started dancing when Squalo called him and told him she was alive.

* * *

><p>Francesca sighed. Because of the time difference between Italy and Japan, every time she called, she only got his voicemail. "Ku fu fu fu fu...leave a message after the beep." So she left long messages, talked about her first few days with the Varia, her thoughts that they were gothic, Xanxus' steak... etc. Mukuro liked to hear her voice...it was comforting to know that she was still alive. But it was a shame he wasn't with her in person. He glanced at his watch. Four minutes before Hibari would arrive to have a spar with him. There was still time...he unlocked his iPhone, and stared at the picture of Francesca and him they had taken in the early morning of his 15th birthday. He dialled.<p>

"What's up? The sky...yeah I know. I'm busy right now, so call later..." Francesca's voice trailed off and was followed by a beep.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...it seems you're enjoying Italy...I hear Fran's memories are back? Don't let Lussuria get to you...and I'd like to see a battle between you guys and Marmon; don't forget to video it for me...And also, don't turn your back on them for too long – they are the Varia. You can call me whenever you like, if you have problems, that sort of thing. Oh look here's Hibari...See ya soon." He murmured as he clicked 'end call' on the screen. He would really have to visit her sometime soon.

* * *

><p>Fran yawned and sat up, looking at his new room around him. The Varia had finally convinced Xanxus the previous night that his steak could taste better, which made the whole process a lot a whole lot simpler. It still took over half an hour though. Thanks to the extra help from him and Francesca, they managed to eat a larger variety of foods, and in one day, the whole group seemed a hundred times happier and cheerier. Fran and Francesca's good mood just had to be broken by the Squalo's proclamation that they had to have a skills test. Seriously, how much did this guy want to know? After their luck with convincing Xanxus, the Varia had gone all out and stocked up the pantry with an unbelievable amount of foods – it was probably enough to feed everyone in Africa for a year.<p>

Squalo yawned as he walked down the stairs. He was still wearing his pyjamas – what was the point for dressing up? It was the weekend after all. Bel also followed in his pyjamas – grey stripes. Everyone had always wondered what the guy loved stripes so much – he didn't own a single piece of clothing without it. Silently, Squalo always guessed that his underwear was striped too...

Anyway, when they went downstairs, they were shocked by a sudden flash of Fran and Francesca's camera. _'Great'_ Squalo though dejectedly. They would definitely use that one for bribery...

"All right...Xanxus' steak's already done and it's in his room, and we've got poached eggs, sausages and cheese toasties...dig in." Fran yawned while shoving a bunch of knives, forks, newspapers and some orange juice on the wooden table. Soon, Levi came in wearing only boxers.

"Oi! I'm a young girl yeah? Go put on a shirt!" Francesca yelled at him, covering her eyes with horror. Levi grumbled about picky girls, and went back to his room. He came back with a bath robe. Marmon appeared in front of them with a nightgown that oddly had a hoodie. Lussuria was the last to walk in – hair already combed and dyed. His pyjamas were a bright yellow, with peacocks dotted all over. Fran choked back a laugh. After several minutes of eating, Squalo looked up from his newspaper.

"After breakfast we'll test you...seeing that we've only got the rest of today, you'll take Bel's exam first, Lussuria's, then Levi's, mine, Marmon's, and Xanxus'." Squalo instructed. Fran and Francesca groaned.

"What are you whining about?... ushi shi shi...this'll be fun!" Bel exclaimed. "Oh, and if you don't pass, then we get to punish you..." he giggled. Francesca glared at him. Yeah, no pressure right? She felt like murdering the god damn prince...

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><p>After they all dressed in ordinary clothes, they met in the living room. Bel's test turned out to be an exam. Literally; pen paper and all..."Ushi shi shi...if you get over 80% then you'll pass..." he giggled. "And before I forget...the rest of the Varia only managed to pass with barely fifty percent...i can't wait to skewer you!" he laughed. "You have two hours, there are forty questions...your time starts now!"<p>

The first section turned out to be biology. Boring...The first question made absolutely no sense.

1. Spinifex is also called porcupine grass because its leaves can curl up into a needle shape. The stomates are located in sunken grooves in the underside of the leaf and are enclosed as the leaf curls up. Which process do these adaption's best reduce?

a) CONDUCTION

b) POLLINATION

c) TRANSLOCATION

d) TRANSPIRATION

"_What the hell..."_ Fran messaged Francesca.

"_What do you think it is?"_ she sent back.

"_I dunno...I think Dad told us once about this...wasn't it transpiration?"_ he thought.

"_Yeah... I remember that...that was the day he set the house on fire by accident?" _she mused.

"_I guess...okay. Next question." _

2. In the morning I walk on four legs, in the afternoon I walk on two, at night I walk with three. Who am I?

The rest of the test continued in that matter, and eventually the finished twenty minutes before the deadline. Bel stood up from where he was sitting and went to mark their papers. Immediately, his smile gave an unhappy twitch. They had gotten way over 80%...

The only questions they had gotten wrong were 12 and 37, (how many animals are mentioned in 'pop goes the weasel' and 'what is the prince's last name?'

Laughing at him, the rest of the Varia walked up to them. "Looks like you've got competition, genius..." Levi laughed, ruffling his hair. Bel frowned.

"They beat your score by tons, idiot." He replied snobbily and looked away. They looked over to where Lussuria was sitting.

"What's your test then..." Francesca muttered, yawning and stretching her arms above her head. The Varia coat sure was stiff...

"Seeing you've just had one of Bel's boring exams, I'll give you an easy one... What shampoo does Squalo use?" he said, smiling.

"VOI! What type of a question is that? Why does it have to be about me?" Squalo cursed.

Fran and Francesca ignored him. "Well...last week he was using Garnier...but his hair had less dandruff this morning so I think it's head and shoulders..." Fran muttered.

"VOOOIIII! How the hell do you know that? Do you fricking spy on me or something?" Squalo yelled, swinging his sword around.

"Seeing that Squalo isn't denying...I assume they're right?" Marmon asked. Lussuria nodded happily

"There's no reason to be ashamed for using hair products Squalo...have more confidence," Lussuria sang. Squalo's swearing could be heard from a mile away.

* * *

><p>Levi's test was on the roof; a test of courage. Odd... Francesca looked down the side and backed away. Seven storeys was a long way down... Levi smirked at her fear. "Tell you what. If you both jump down into the swimming pool, you'll pass."<p>

Fran looked at his sister. "Come on...let's get this over with."

"There's no way I'm going down! I don't care if I'll fail, I don't care if I'll get punished, i'm staying right here!" she screeched and accidently bumped Fran over the edge.

"Thanks a lot for nothing..." his voice travelled as he splashed into the pool.

"Well...he passes. If you don't go down, I'll push you down..." Levi grinned and began walking towards her, arms outstretched.

"No! You can go fuck yourself! There's no way I'm going down. So you can go get your test of courage and shove it up your ass!" she barked, finger waving in his face. Levi's eyebrow began to twitch...

"That's it! I have had it! Levi Volta!" he roared as his parabolas floated and sparked uncontrollably. A second before they struck, Francesca darted between Levi's feet, and the bolts of electricity hit him instead. Then she shoved him off the building.

From below, the other varia members discussed.

"Does that count?" Lussuria asked.

"I dunno...it is a test of courage...no one but us have the guts to swear at Levi and beat him up...she's like what... Twelve?" Squalo murmured.

Fran (who had just pulled himself out of the swimming pool) spluttered and gagged on the water. "Actually, we're eleven." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"Good grief...I suppose it counts. Lussuria, you'd better patch up Levi..." Marmon sighed, looking at the tall man floating face first in the water.

"I guess it's my turn next..." Squalo sighed.

* * *

><p>Once Lussuria had dragged off Levi and Francesca took the stairs down, Marmon, Bel, Squalo and Fran walked to nearby field. It was beautiful...flowers swayed with the wind, the trees leaves fell as a sign of the nearing autumn. "If you can beat me a fist fight, then you pass." He said smiling. He knew there was no way they could beat him.<p>

"That's not fair!" Francesca whined. "You're sword is attached to your arm, so technically it is your fist. And we don't have weapons!"

"And we're still injured..." Fran added.

Squalo grinned and shrugged. "Life wasn't meant to be fair." He swung his sword and Francesca instinctively cast an illusionary sword. Luckily, Squalo fell for it, and their weapons clanged.

"_All right Fran...i'll give you cover. It looks like he's going to beat me, so you might as well sneak up behind him..." _she thought quickly to him

"_All right...try not to get beat up too bad..."_ Fran replied.

Squalo swiped at her again and this time was too fast for Francesca – it caught one of her ribs.

"Ouch..." she muttered, and tried to disarm him from the short distance. It might've worked if she was stronger than him, or if his sword wasn't attached to his arm, but unfortunately, she wasn't and it was.

Squalo swung his sword and laughed like a maniac. "Attaco di Squalo!" he yelled. Francesca quickly remembered the attack she had been hit with all those years ago...Francesca managed to raise her sword in front of her head before it hit her, and cast an illusion of herself as she slowly edged away. She saw Squalo knock her illusionary self onto the floor with his elbow and then he realised – it was an illusion.

"Give up yet?" Fran muttered from behind Squalo, holding a fake gun. Surprised, Squalo looked around. He had completely forgotten about Fran...

"VOI!" he yelled as his hand flipped a 180 and aimed for Fran's head. To avoid it, Fran sat down, hard, staring at Squalo's sword a metre from his nose. Francesca, now having the use of her arm back, ran and stood in front of Fran.

"Cast an illusionary maze..." she whispered. Suddenly, Squalo looked confused. He started hacking at the trees around the clearing, and one of them fell on him.

"VOI!" he yelled as he struggled against the weight of the tree. "Get me out of here!"

"That's a real tree Squalo...there's nothing we can do about it..." Fran muttered.

"Ushi shi shi... it seems like the commander has lost..." Bel giggled.

"Good grief...maybe we should help him up..." Marmon murmured. With the help of the four people, they managed to drag Squalo out, but he now sported a few broken ribs. "Do you want us to take you back to Lussuria?" Marmon continued.

"Just get this damn exam over!" he wailed, cursing from both pain and frustration.

"Good grief...since your illusions have already fooled Squalo, you pass. Xanxus it next now..." the greedy Arcobaleno said.

"Why is everybody using me to do their exams?" Squalo whined quietly to himself.

* * *

><p>Together, they walked to Xanxus' study, where he was drinking tequila.<p>

"What are you scum doing here?" he growled.

"Xanxus! It's your turn to test them." Squalo yelled.

"Trash, are you telling me what to do?" he roared back, throwing the tequila at them. Everyone except Squalo ducked.

"No wonder he needs so many hair products..." Fran murmured to Francesca.

"It's the ninth's rule!" Squalo retorted to Xanxus.

"Hn. Fine. I'm hungry. Go get me a steak." He muttered. "You have twenty minutes."

"Oh great...that's impossible." Francesca sighed as they ran to the kitchen. "We'll have to cheat." They called Cafe Lucrat – the closest restaurant.

Fran pulled out his phone."Yes we'd like to order your best steak, rare, lots of herbs. We'll be there to pick up in twelve minutes, and we'll pay a hundred dollars for every minute it takes us to get there." Fran commanded, hung up, and then ran to the garage. They typed in Squalo's name, found the car that Squalo had taken them for a ride in the previous day, and drove off.

"Left! No wait...right!" Francesca yelled. Why did they have to be so short? Fran desperately read the GPS on the car. It was meant to be right next to them...he pulled up the emergency brake. The car skidded for a few metres.

"Go get the damn thing..." he murmured. Francesca came out in three minutes, ran to the door, jumped in and the car sped off. They made it with three minutes to spare.

"Hn. Good steak. What's in it?" Xanxus asked.

"_What should we tell him?"_ Francesca thought desperately.

"_I dunno...just say we found new ingredients in the kitchen!" _Fran improvised.

"We uh...found some new stuff in the kitchen..." Francesca lied awkwardly. But Xanxus bought it.

"Great. Pass. You can make it for me every day. Now get out scum." Fran and Francesca let out a breath of relief.

"Is it over?" they whined to the glaring Varia in front of them.

* * *

><p><span>Varia's training style: act rash, think later.<span>

Francesca noticed this during her first mission, a week after she arrived in the Varia. The members of the Varia did usually have a plan, but rarely did it go their way. It was the same with Mukuro...why did these people never give them time to adapt?

Marmon had just left for three weeks of leave (to find the Arcobaleno with the clear pacifier) and an urgent mission had just come up. Apparently Dino, head of the Cavallone family, got kidnapped because his subordinates weren't around. What type of a weakling had to have subordinates to 'babysit' him?

Squalo took a breath and put on a serious voice. "Here's the deal. We know he's being ransomed for twenty million Euros; he was kidnapped by the Sognare family. We know that they're small, weak and somehow managed to capture Dino – so there's probably a traitor involved. They say they're going to kill him if we don't give them the money – they say that they'll have an exchange him outside the coliseum at dawn tomorrow. That leaves us with..." Squalo looked at his watch. "Seven hours."

"Well...can't we just go there, get Fran or Francesca to make illusionary money, grab Dino and go?" Levi pointed out. They looked at each other. It seemed so simple...So it was decided. Fran, Francesca, Bel and Squalo would go to Rome; and their calculations were that there was a 97% chance of success. How wrong they were...

* * *

><p><em>10 minutes to sunrise.<em>

Francesca was sleepy. Squalo had insisted they spend the whole night making their illusions perfect – they didn't want to risk anything. Right now they were on the helicopter which was due to land any moment. The coliseum was huge, so they were going to look from the air to find a suitable area to land. They were all wearing their Varia uniforms – Francesca even bothered to get her hands on a pair of boots. She was resisting the urge to sweat. "5 minutes drop off" the pilot said over the intercom.

"You guys know the plan?" Squalo muttered. Fran, Francesca and Bel nodded in unison. They hovered over the coliseum, and threw the rope outside. One by one, they slid down. _Just keep going, just keep going..._ Francesca though desperately to herself. The helicopter flew off.

The Sognare family was already waiting for them a car, three men, and a hostage. Dino's hands were tied up and looked like he had a bruise on his eye. So at least he resisted...Squalo nodded at Francesca. Carefully, she walked up to where the other family stood, suitcase in hand. She was sure to keep a good three metres distance between them – just in case.

"So...the Varia sends a little girl to do their dirty work." The leader of the group mused.

"Who're you calling a little girl you faggot?" she hissed back.

"Ooohh...so you know a few swears. Big deal." They laughed.

"Well do you want your fucking money or not you assholes?" Francesca teased, wagging the suitcase on a single finger.

"Give the money. Then we'll hand over Dino." They insisted. Taking a careful look at Dino, she immediately realised that there was something wrong...

"_Francesca! He's an illusion!"_ Fran urgently sent to her.

"_Yeah...i though so. I'll just play along for a while kay?"_ she thought back.

"Pffft. Do you think I'm stupid? Didn't your mamma ever tell you never to judge a book by its cover? Oh I forgot. I bet your mamma's so stupid that she stares at an orange juice carton every morning for an hour cause it says 'concentrate' ." She shot back.

"That's enough! If you don't give us the money, he's going to fucking die!" they yelled and pointed the gun at Dino's head.

Francesca just shrugged. "Go on. I'd like to see you try." She urged. "I'm an illusionist, and that cheap party trick won't fool me."

The men had begun to look nervous. "This isn't an illusion! This is Dino Cavallone, in real blood and flesh!" they lied.

Francesca just yawned and sat down on the stone floor. "Sure, we can do this all day. But tell you what, we need to find the real Dino Cavallone so...spill." She flicked her fingers. Fire began burning around the men and melted the fake Dino like a lump of wax. The fire circled around the men and began to constrict. The men began to scream.

What the Varia didn't know, was that there were three men in the exchange, but four had been assigned to the job. There had been a sniper – and right now, he needed to bring this weird girl to his boss...he slid a dart gun into his gun.

Francesca was pissed. The fire wasn't real of course, but the men definitely thought it was. But none of them were talking. She stopped the illusion. "Care to talk yet?" she asked.

"Ha...we know you don't know where Dino is, so you'll never find him if you kill us." They laughed. _They're completely loopy!..._ Francesca thought.

"All right then. Belphegor! Give me a hand will you? I think you might enjoy the whole torturing thing more than me..." she trailed off and stood up. Bel giggled and began to walk over to her. And then the sniper fired. The dart hit Frncesca's lower back, and the drug began to take effect immediately. But Francesca forced herself to keep her eyes open stand straight and put on a good poker face. Squalo, Fran and Bel were now running towards her, but the men from the Sognare family had already started to attack her – Francesca was using illusionary weapons, but she knew that they wouldn't hold very long with the damn drug pumping through her veins. Dodge, duck, roll, hit, ouch, swear, swing, lunge.

By the time Bel had arrived (in range), Francesca was almost completely unconscious and the men seized her arm and twisted it behind her back. The suitcase of money disappeared. Bel was about to throw his knives, but Fran stopped him. "She's their shield. They'll just block you knives with her." So, they did nothing as they shoved Francesca into the car and drove off quickly.

"_Hey Fran...next time you're doing this..."_ she messaged as she watched the sky through the car window, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>All right...a little cliff hanger. I'll finish the mission tomorrow...Have a nice day :]<strong>


	12. Squalo's Birthday

**I'm pretty sure i'm near the end of this FanFic. Maybe one or two more updates after this? Anyways, this is a continue from the last chapter. It may sound weird...I had writers block :P. Sorry for OOC, or Mary Sue in the characters ( i tried avoiding it, i swear!) Reviews would be nice. Enjoy :]**

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><p><span>Chapter 12 - Arcobaleno surprises<span>

Squalo, Bel and Fran watched as the car drove off into the distance.

"So much for your 97% chance of success..." Fran sighed, sitting down and holding his head (covered by a frog hat) in his hands.

"VOI! We need to get her back!" Squalo plotted.

"Ushi shi shi...great commander, why don't you explain how?" Bel giggled. Squalo opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it. So they had forgotten about later transport...

* * *

><p>Francesca snapped out her dream...she was still in a car. Her hands were bound with ropes. She looked out of the window to see a large volcano. They had been here before! It had to be Mount Vesuvius...<em>"Fran, I'm in Pompeii! Get your ass - " <em>But she was immediately cut off when - one of the men in the exchange noticed her presence and punched her in the face. "What was that for you bastard?" she whined, surprising the man when she didn't recoil in pain.

Squalo was calling the pilot to pick them up when Fran received Francesca's message. _"Francesca? Hello? Are you there?"_ he sent back immediately.

"_Yeah...you'd better hurry up, these guys look like they're pissed at me for some reason..."_ she thought.

* * *

><p>"Squalo! She's next to Pompeii right now...she's just woken up..." Fran said urgently to the long haired (dumbass) commander.<p>

"How do you know that?" Bel asked disbelievingly. There was no way that he could possibly know so much...

"We're telepathic!" Fran yelled, and immediately felt guilty...he shouldn't have told them...Squalo nodded in understanding, barely showing any sign of surprise. He had thought about it a lot since they had beaten him...

"Scratch that. I need you to find a car – black, Mercedes, travelling FAST, and send all intel to me immediately. Got that?" He yelled to the pilot. He hung up and called someone else – Francesca.

* * *

><p>"Hey, her phones ringing. Should we pick it up?" The man in the back seat asked.<p>

"Na...just ignore it." The driver muttered, full attention on the road. After twenty seconds, it was still ringing. And to make it worse, it was extremely annoying.

_Your mama's calling back..._

_For no real reason , but just to chat..._

_She'll waste you're minutes, talking 'bout the cat..._

_Or 'bout how Dad has gottin' fat..._

And after a minute, it still hadn't shut up. "If you don't mind, can I just pick up my phone? It's a waste of credit not to you know..." Francesca trailed off. She sighed as they ignored her. "Don't say I didn't warn you..." she muttered. Suddenly the ringtone changed to a different song though...a chicken remix version of 'old McDonald had a farm'. The man's eyebrow twitched just a little. Then the third song popped up.

"I just had se**...and it felt so good...a woman let me put my p***s inside her..." Francesca struggled to keep a poker face as a car drove by next to them and the other driver looked at Francesca, then the two men, then back to Francesca and shook his head disgustedly then drove off.

"That's it!" the Sognare hitman yelled. He grabbed Francesca's iPhone from her pocket and looked at the screen. Superbi Squalo - the gothic hitman...it read. He answered the call. "This is the Sognare family speaking...WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!" he yelled.

"VOI! You dishonoured our deal and kidnapped our comrade! What is with you people?" Squalo's voice echoed through the car.

"You were being dishonest too – you didn't have real money!" The man retorted.

"Well technically you were both being dishonest, so that cancels out all dishonesty, but you did capture Dino in the first place..." Francesca said thoughtfully out loud.

"Shut up bitch!" the Sognare man said, slapping her. Francesca stepped on his foot. He elbowed her in her chest. Immediately, she felt the difficulty to breathe...

"_Damn Fran...I can't breathe!"_ she yelled in her mind. Squalo on the other side paused for a moment.

"What do you want for the girl and Dino?" Squalo asked.

"The price is now fifty million euros." The man bargained.

"We'll pay twenty upfront if give the girl back now!" Squalo barked. Why did he sound so desperate? The men looked at Francesca. It was true that she was breathing raggedly...

"We refuse. If the girl dies, it's not our problem. Dino is still alive, but we can't guarantee that. Good day." The man said hanging up.

"_They're cheating bastards, I'll find a way out of this!"_ she thought over to him, her mind screaming for oxygen. Her sense of gravity was disappearing...

"_No! Not again..."_ Fran whispered through to her.

"_I have a plan...i think..."_ she murmured back, and she passed out.

When she woke up, she was in a cell. There was a man – (a pretty HOT man)...in front of her.

"Hey? Are you all right?" he asked. "Can you breathe?"

"Do I look all right?" she wheezed back. She took of her coat and took a big breath. Stupid uniforms. "I assume you are Dino Cavallone, head of your family?" she questioned.

"The one and only..." he said smiling.

"That ain't a compliment...seriously, the only reason I'm here is because you got your sorry ass here in the first place. How the hell are you a mafia boss it you can't even protect yourself from a bunch of arseholes?" she accused. Dino looked slightly hurt, but took it like a man.

"I admit it...i'm completely useless without my subordinates. I'm actually very clumsy you know..." he admitted, and hung his head.

"Pffft. What do you need them to do? Wipe your butt when you've gone to the toilet?" Francesca joked.

"Actually...I care for my family, so when they're beside me, I feel the need to protect them and well...be a better boss." He explained. Francesca felt slightly guilty.

"I feel like we've gotten off on the wrong foot..." she muttered. "Francesca. 11. I'm an illusionist for the Varia...this is my first mission..." she said with a weak smile.

He grinned back. "Dino Cavallone. Twenty three. Current boss for the Cavallone family. Surprising to see such a young girl join the Varia."

"So...how long have you been here?" Francesca asked casually.

"Well...they got me when I was visiting a friend in a hospital...I told my men to go to the bar, have a few drinks, and two of them drugged me. The next thing you know, I'm here...stuck in this damn cell. I woke up yesterday afternoon so...yeah. They took my weapons as well...they even took my turtle." he said sadly. "They brought you here about half an hour ago...did you dye your hair green? Do you like chopsticks?" he asked, from the middle of nowhere. "Where did you get the metal cast?

"What? No! I was born with green hair... and the chopsticks are a lifestyle decision" she said complained and crossed her arms. "The metal cast is from a parachuting accident...i can get it off in two weeks. I have green eyes as well, but I wear contacts."

"Sorry, sorry, couldn't help asking..." Dino apologized. They about an hour discussing about the mafia – and Francesca had to admit, Dino was an easy guy to talk to. He was almost like the older brother she never had...

"_Fran...do you know where I am?"_ she messaged as Dino rambled about his horrible time training with Reborn.

"_The Varia's tracked down the car already...But it'll take at least an hour to get there. Don't do anything stupid okay?" _he pleaded.

"_I can try...i've found Dino anyway. Hurry up..."_ she sighed and tried to remember better times. The times when she was with her parent...with Fran...with Mukuro...with the Varia. But the guards just had to end the happy moment.

"What's up you bastards..." Francesca growled. Instead of replying, they shot her with a taser. It didn't hurt, but...it paralysed her body and it went beyond her control. There was no way she could make any illusions like this...

"Hey? What are you doing? She's just a kid!" Dino yelled, stood up, but accidentally tripped and fell flat on his face. The Sognare family laughed.

"I appreciate the thought Dino. Thanks." She managed to say through gritted teeth as they lugged her off.

They soon came to a room – it was relatively clean, but somewhat hospital like. The men strapped her down into a chair, and left.

* * *

><p>"So...Francesca I understand? It seems we've finally found you..." A baby in a lab coat wearing glasses started. He had hair so black it appeared a dark green, and a green pacifier hung around his neck. Verde.<p>

"Do you have a knife? Because I would LOVE to gut you..." she retorted. Ignoring her, Verdecontinued. He pressed a button on his pad and it gave her a pretty strong electric shock.

"The electric shocks are intended not to destroy your brain cells, but to simply stun it so you can't use your filthy illusions. Don't be surprised if one appears every minute or so...I understand that you may be distraught...but just so you know, all this testing will lead to important parts of my research..." the baby said. "Nothing personal...now if you don't mind, I'm just going to give you a truth serum..." he muttered and clicked a button. This time, a robotic arm swivelled in from the roof and a syringe with a long needle was jabbed into her neck.

"Ouch...is it too late to say I do mind?"Francesca muttered.

"So. What is your last name?" Verde asked. Francesca had no idea what the serum was meant to do, but she didn't see the damage of answering truthfully.

"Don't have one." She replied.

"When is your birthday?" he asked.

"Sometime in June..." she muttered.

"And the year?" he pressed.

"None of your business." Francesca denied. Verde wrote something down on a piece of paper and pressed something on his pad. Immediately another syringe jabbed her. "I really don't see the point in this..." she sighed.

"All right. I know you're eleven anyway." He shrugged.

"Why bother asking if you know the answer already?" she snapped back.

"Testing. Okay...what properties does Fran's hat have?" he asked.

"Fran? Who's Fran?" she lied, putting on a classic poker face. Verde sniggered.

"Fran is your brother. You may put on a pretty good act, but your heart rate nonetheless rose. I repeat. What is the use of his hat?"

"Pffft. I'm not telling you." She said, sticking her nose in the air and looked away from him. Another needle jabbed her which was quickly followed by an electric shock.

"Okay...I see I haven't perfected my truth serum yet...we might as well go on to why I brought you here anyway." Verde muttered. Suddenly everything seemed clearer.

"You asshole! I bet you kidnapped Dino to lure out the Varia and then get me or Fran here to complete your dumb tests!" she roared. "Is the Sognare family even real?" she glared.

Verde smiled. "It didn't take you long to figure it out...The Sognare family is real, except I struck a bargain in which we would both gain."

"You betrayed the Vongola alliance! The ninth would have your head for this!" she yelled.

"No one's been able to catch me for years. And if you'd excuse me...I have a test to run." He said snobbily, and clicked another button. Another needle appeared – but there was writing on the side of the needle. Hemlock. "I've genetically altered the hemlock, so it causes more pain, and next to no muscle damage. I'll give you the antidote when you tell me, what the properties of your brother's hat are." The needle went in. For several seconds, nothing happened. Francesca smiled. Useless...

As seconds grew into minutes, Francecsca felt a slight twinge. No...more than a slight twinge. A horrible burning sensation...She forced a grimace into a grin. Several electric shocks later, Francesca was on the verge of tears. She had barely kept in a scream, her muscles tensing. Fran...Do it for Fran...her mind yelled. So this was pain...

"Hmmmm...it's seems you're holding out quite well." Verde mused. "I assure you that the pain has barely begun...I should tell you that this is by far the greatest result I've had yet...but in about half an hour, your organs will begin to liquefy." True to his word, three minutes later, tears began streaming down her face.

"Give up yet? Tell me about his hat and I'll let you go..." he bribed

"NO!" she yelled. If he found out about his hat, he would learn everything...everything about the secret of illusions. How they made the real unreal, and the unreal, real. That was what all powerful illusionists knew, and were forced to keep.

"Fine then...let's speed up the process..." Verde sighed. One of the Sognare members walked in. "This is Antonio; but to the mafia world, her is known as Vita Mort – living death. The number one torturist in the world...you have twenty five minutes.

Suddenly her bonds released, and Antonio pounced on her. They fought for a while, throwing a punch every now and then, but Francesca couldn't stand the poison. She collapsed.

* * *

><p>Fran had arrived outside the Sognare base. Squalo and Bel stood next to him.<p>

"Are you sure?" they asked skeptically, staring at the dirty public toilet.

"Certain..." he muttered. He could feel Francesca's presence...but it was fading. "We've got to hurry..." he said with a touch of urgency, and walked through the toilet. It in fact had never been a toilet, but a mere projection of one. In truth, it lead to a clean doorway. Squalo kicked down the metal door – he was just that pissed.

"_Just tell him!"_ Fran begged.

"_No...i'm keeping the secret to my grave. If he finds out...well I don't know if he's one of the good guys..."_ Francesca though back with all the concentration she could muster.

"_Just buy us some time! We're almost there..." _Fran insisted.

* * *

><p>"<em>Easier said than done..."<em> she replied tiredly."I'll tell you!" She screamed to Verde. She didn't even have to act...

"Oh really? Do say..." Verde grinned. Finally.

"Ushi shi shi...I hear we have a little girl screaming..." Bel giggled evilly as he threw another knife at a man who ran into the corridor.

"That girl is part of our team idiot!" Squalo yelled and followed Fran who was already sprinting towards the last door on the right.

They broke down the door.

"It's just a hat. Nothing else." She smirked and shut her eyes tightly as she heard the door slam open. She could feel the world fading away...the sounds became slight drones, her eyesight fuzzing. Even the pain was disappearing...Wait what? The pain was disappearing? Francesca's eyes refocused, and she could hear Fran saying her name over and over...There was a needle in his hand. The antidote...

She sat up and hugged him. "Thanks for coming..." she whispered in his ear.

"Anytime," Fran managed to reply.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Dino stumble in with Bel, and Squalo throttling Verde. Burning the building behind them, they left.

"So...technically did the mission go as a success?" Dino asked Squalo.

"VOI? What are you talking about? The Varia never fails!" Squalo yelled.

"But in all truth, you were pretty late...Francesca was tortured, Dino hasn't eaten for two days, and you've wasted so much money on getting here." Verde pointed out. Francesca nodded in agreement from behind Squalo's back – he was giving her a piggy back.

"The guy does have a point..." Bel grinned.

"We did not fail!" Squalo insisted.

"Keep telling yourself that, long haired dumbass commander," Fran muttered. Francesca grinned. Good times good times...

"You know what the Varia's new motto should be? Act rash, think later." Francesca yawned and fell asleep.

* * *

><p><span>Squalo's birthday. (13th March)<span>

Francesca sighed as she looked through the shop window. Shopping was boring. Especially for someone like Squalo. Who knew what the guy liked? All he did all day was go 'voi' every now and then...

Tonight was Squalo's birthday. It probably hadn't been the best idea to leave it till now to get him something; but she doubted that Squalo would get many presents a year...she didn't even think he had friends. They were holding a small party at the Varia HQ – in honour for their 'great' commander. Fran and Marmon were helping Lussuria with decorations , Bel was cleaning. Francesca was meant to bake the cake, but personally, she wasn't bothered. Levi was buying alcohol – and as far as Squalo knew, they were taking a 'day off' so he went to train. Seiously, which guy trained on his Birthday?

_I could get the wedding cake...it looks good. The groom can be Squalo, and the bride can be his sword...No wait. I can get him a sword shaped cake...no scratch that...I'll get him a shark shaped one..._ she finally agreed with herself.

It was as she walked out of the bakery when Francesca decided to get him a gift. Her mother had always taught her that it was respectful to get a gift for someone older than you... so she bought a wallet. She had seen the guy try to buy something once...it had been an epic fail. He was scrimmaging for coins and notes all over his coat...just to buy a toothbrush. It had been so utterly embarrassing to stand next to him that Francesca finally gave the store attendant some illusionary money and told him to keep the change.

That night, Squalo returned from his training. He had in fact, totally forgotten about his birthday. Every year it was horrible...drunken Varia members, fighting for his cake. His birthday, was one of the only days he did NOT look forward to in the year.

So when he walked through the door, and heard them scream 'surprise!' as a hail of balloons dropped, he mentally slapped himself.

It turned out quite well actually...well...all the previous years, Bel had been in charge of buying a cake. As a prince, he believed in wedding cakes – large, elegant, and worthy for a prince. But he was surprised to see an ice cream shark staring back at him. "Make a wish..."Fran yawned. Squalo thought for a second. Every other year, he wished for better sword skills. Why not try something new? _I wish to defeat a hundred swordsman..._he thought as he blew out the twenty three candles.

Party games. One thing he had never been fond of...the Varia were experts at cheating, and this year was no different. In charades, Fran and Francesca used telepathy. Briliant. In lemonade roulette, Bel had cheated, marked his own can, shook everyone else's and waited for the opportune moment...It was really a waste on lemonade, but hey, they spent two hours trying to catch the damn prince.

Later that night, there was a surprise. Squalo's presents. This year, he had seven. SEVEN. It was amazing really...The first was from Dino. A new motorcycle...very nice. The second was from Marmon – a voucher for a free BigMac. Cheapo...Bel's turned out to be a stationery kit decorated with sharks. Xanxus, Levi and Fran hadn't bothered. Lussuria gave him crates of hair products...weird. Tsuna had sent one (probably forced by Reborn) and it turned out to be a chess set. Like Squalo even played the game. The ninth had sent him a new video camera_ 'to record your battles...'_ it had said. Francesca's was the last one. It wasn't as fancy as the others, but personally, Squalo liked it the best. A wallet. Useful. He had always planned to get one, but was never really bothered...and when he opened it he saw a picture – the Varia, sitting happily in a group portrait...it had to be from New Years. He secretly smiled to himself.

For the rest of the night, they drank. They even had a drinking contest, and they were sad to see that Levi won. He just beat Francesca - because Bel caught her cheating.

Best birthday ever...

* * *

><p><strong>Have a nice day :]<strong>


	13. Death of Vongola Nono

**I know it's really short...- which i find extremely DISHONOURABLE TO MYSELF but I had writer's block...I also may have forgotten to do my homework...**

**I'll figure out Francesca's box weapon sometime soon. I might just kill her eventually...we'll see how it goes. Anyways, Enjoy :]**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 13 - The Death of the Ninth<span>

The death of the ninth had not been a happy day. The ninth had been ill for three days already, and the Vongola medical team did not expect him to make a fourth. Fran and Francesca had been summoned immediately – to try and make illusions so he would believe he was healthy again. It didn't work.

"Fran...Francesca...I thank you for your efforts...but there is no way you can convince an old man that he is not dying..." he said wisely from his sitting position in the bed. They were in the medical area of the Vongola mansion.

"You've heard of us?" Fran muttered skeptically.

"Of course...Many people have heard your tale. The two children born with green hair and green eyes, excellent intelligence and your knack for trouble making. But after the death of your parents, you joined Rokudo Mukuro, broke his friends out of prison and joined the Varia 7 months ago... Perhaps not the happiest of all stories, but it will be remembered," Timeteo smiled, tapping his head.

Francesca smiled sadly. "What would you miss most from this world?" she asked.

Timeteo looked thoughtful. "I suppose that I would miss the sunlight on my face...and the early summer breeze..." he trailed off. They looked out the window. It was snowing heavily.

"This is the least I can do..." Francesca insisted, creating a field around them. There were birds singing, the sakura trees swayed in the distance, throwing their petals around the meadow. A gentle wind rippled the grass. The ninth looked at her, and the message in his eyes were clear. _"Thank you..."_

Soon the visitors began to arrive. The first were his guardians. They said cheesy things like – _'it's been an honour to serve you'; 'we would've followed you into death'_...though they were probably true. Once they were done, they stayed in the corner. For the next hour or so, almost a hundred people came to visit the dying man – all alliances and friends with the mafia. Most took notice of the illusion. Dino was one of the first to arrive.

"Ninth..." he almost cried.

"Shed no tears for me, young Cavallone. You have grown into a fine man...serve the Vongola with pride..." Timeteo said kindly. He made Dino feel better, not the other way round...seriously, that was just weird.

The tenth generation guardians and the Varia were among the last to arrive.

"NO! Ninth! Please don't go...don't leave me..." Tsuna cried and wailed.

"Tsuna...you and your guardians will take my place, not because I'm about die, but because you're ready, and I'll know that you'll make the Vongola what it once was...just live up to that." The ninth said, much like a grandfather. Mukuro nodded at Francesca, but the situation was to grave for any of them to smile. Reborn jumped onto his bedside table.

"Timeteo...thank you." Was all Reborn said.

"We are friends for life...and death Reborn..." the old man replied.

"VOI! NINTH! YOU CAN'T DIE!" Squalo yelled.

"The prince orders you to live." Bel muttered.

"Hmmmm...it seems like you are loyal in the end..." the dying man teased, remembering the ring conflict and the crib incident. Squalo and Bel blushed. "Thank you for your service." Timeteo said humbly. Fran swore they left looking happier than when they came in.

Xanxus was the last visitor. "Old man..." he growled.

"I'm sorry I wasn't the father you wanted Xanxus...but I loved you like my real son." The ninth apologized.

"Hn. Voluntary love is useless." Xanxus said and turned and walked away. However, he stopped at the door and continued. "Thank you...father." With that, he left.

The ninth sighed with relief. "That's everyone...now I can leave with a good conscience..."

"No! You can't die yet! Your family needs you!" Francesca almost bawled. The ninth beckoned her to come closer.

"The Vongola does not survive because of a single man; it survives because of everyone else. Remember that...and do not let anyone forget..." Those were the final words of the Vongola Nono.

* * *

><p>That night, Italy had its best night of selling liquor in eighty years. Fran and Francesca were among those drinking in the ninth's honour. At some point in the night, Reborn and Mukuro joined them. They drank till dawn before either of them said anything.<p>

Francesca put down her bottle heavily. It was her seventh – and still her body refused to get drunk. "How's life pineapple head?" she asked, surprising him.

Mukuro shrugged back. "Could be worse I guess. I guess I'm one of the most significant people in the mafia now..." he sighed. Fran smirked from the other side of Francesca.

"You still plan on possessing Tsuna?" Fran asked casually. Reborn immediately perked his head up.

"It depends...he said he might destroy it...so if then, I'll help him. If not, he's going down...ku fu fu fu fu..." the pineapple replied honestly.

"So...where are the guardians staying?" Francesca asked Reborn.

"We're moving into the Vongola mansion tomorrow..." he murmured back, depressed. So many memories of being with the ninth...

* * *

><p>The ninths funeral was held later that evening. It had been small, to avoid too much suspicion from public. Only the ninth, tenth generation guardians, the Arcobaleno and Varia had attended. Once the ceremony was over, everybody just stared miserably at the newly moved soil. They didn't leave, or seem to realise that the ceremony was over at all. Francesca remembered the ninth's last words...so she made an illusionary ghost of the ninth. "Friends, the Vongola does not survive because of a single man; it survives because of everyone else..." Everyone looked up in surprise to see Francsca's illusion fade away. They immediately began gossiping on the reality of it all... Only Fran and Mukuro looked oddly at her.<p>

* * *

><p>A month after the ninth's death, box weapons were completed by Verde. And as of their previous 'misunderstanding', the Varia was willing to 'forgive' him if he gave them each one; provided that they make their own designs. And because Francesca just happened to be the girl, she was made the designer. How much did they want her to tell them that she couldn't draw?<p>

So one by one, she interviewed the members of the Varia. Fran was first.

"So what do you want?" she asked. "You can choose an animal or something..." she yawned.

Fran thought for about a minute. "How about this..." he sketched something on a piece of paper. He couldn't draw either...must've been a family thing.

"Is that Bel?" she asked confused. "Why is he in a wheelchair?"

"No...it's like a jack in a box..." he explained. "When the box opens, a miniature Bel pops out and blocks or attacks."

"Ahuh...I'll write that down..." she murmured. She was just going to use photoshop anyway... The rest of the Varia picked relatively ordinary things – Levi picked some squid thing, Squalo picked a shark (no surprise) and Bel chose a mink. Xanxus'was more difficult to get right...a liger. And when Xanxus got angry and his scars showed, the liger's stripes would appear. What the hell? But nonetheless, she added the details. She was thinking about herself when Mukuro called.

"So...what are you getting?" he asked. No greeting. No indication on the subject. Suddenly Francesca had a bad feeling...

"Pineapple head...are you SPYING ON ME?" she yelled, looking out the window. There he sat, just under her window sill. Stalker...

"Ku fu fu fu fu...i thought it might be more fun here than at the Vongola mansion..." he whined protectively.

"True...what are you guys getting? Who's designing yours?" she questioned.

"Well...we all got visions from the future right? So we stuck to those..." he sighed. "I wanted to get an eagle, but an owl's pretty cool I guess..." he sighed, slightly dejected. "So...what are you getting?" he said and looked immediately brighter.

"Well...i can't actually remember what I had in the future coz I didn't get the chance to see..." she trailed off, thinking hard. Her future self had opened the box when Bel's stupid undead twin brother had attacked them but she had been distracted with creating an illusion so the storm bats wouldn't kill them all...

"Then let's start from the basics. What class flame are you?" Mukuro asked, shocking her back to earth.

"Uuuhh...i think it's mist..." Francesca thought hard.

"All right then...let's go give you a test." Mukuro muttered. He slipped off his earing and gave it to Francesca. "It takes most people a few days to master it, but if you control your will onto the ring, a flame should appear."

"And I'm allowed to use your almighty earring?" she asked, unsure.

"Sure...why not?" Mukuro replied carefree.

"But I don't have my ears pierced..." Francesca said hastily.

"Pffft. I didn't. I think it's a clip on...here." Mukuro insisted and placed the weirdly shaped ornament on her ear. Almost immediately, it burst into indigo flames, and fell off. Mukuro picked it up and put it back on his ear. He'd been expecting it to reject Francesca anyway..."Well...that proves it. You do have mist flames. But I'm curious...do you have any other attributes?"

"Is that possible now?" Francesca asked confused. Seriously, what was with all the complications?

* * *

><p>So together they walked to the Vongola mansion, and walked up to Gokudera who was in the Library, writing hundred of notes on 'how to be a loyal right-hand man'.<p>

"Sup." Francesca smiled as they neared him. He was wearing glasses and his hair was tied up in a tiny pony tail...adorable.

Gokudera looked up and acknowledged her. "is there something you need pineapple head?" he asked, not rudely, but not politely either.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...we were wondering if we could borrow your rings for a moment..." Mukuro started.

"What? No! What do you need them for? There's no way I'm lending them to some downright paedophile git like you..." he started.

"Actually...there for me..." Francesca piped up. "I just want to know what flame attributes I have so I can pick a good box weapon...i didn't really get a good look in my future flashback..."she explained. Gokudera's glare softened.

"I dunno if it'lll work...but here." He sighed as he handed over his Vongola buckle of storm, then four separate rings, skull shaped.

Hesitantly, she put them on and concentrated her will. Only the lightning ring shone.

"I was right..." Mukuro muttered to himself, fingers on his chin.

"Well...thanks Gokudera...i'll be going now." She said happily, carefully handing the gear back.

"Anytime..." he replied, strange look on his face.

* * *

><p>They walked back to the Varia HQ, which was only a few miles away.<p>

"So what do you think?" Francesca asked. "What should I get?" she mused.

"Well...i would say something original like Dino's horse." Mukuro decided.

"That...leaves a lot of room for error you know..." Francesca muttered. "That's no help at all."

Mukuro shrugged. "You want to go for a walk then?"

Francesca smiled. This was better than making dinner for the Varia... "Sure."

* * *

><p>They 'borrowed' one of the Varia's many cars and drove to Naples. They picked a restaurant by the sea and looked into the setting sun.<p>

"Mukuro...do you like me?" Francesca suddenly asked.

"Of course...!" he replied.

"But why? What make me so special?" she asked, feeling slightly dejected. Whatever way she looked at it, their relationship seemed hard to imagine.

Mukuro didn't even hesitate when he answered. "I like you. More than a friend because when I'm around you, I...I... I feel happier. I feel safer. I feel...stronger. You're smart, beautiful and can see through most of my illusions. Sure I'm stronger than you...but hey, you are still eleven." He admitted.

Francesca smiled brightly. "You're a nice guy Mukuro. Honestly." Mukuro blushed at her comment. This was the first time anyone had ever described him as NICE. Should he be offended? Or happy? He wasn't sure...

* * *

><p>Later that night, they took a stroll on the beach, the chill of winter digging in. But they didn't care. This was their moment together, and no one could stop it. They walked and chattered for an hour or two before heading back home.<p>

* * *

><p>"Thanks pineapple...i had a great time. I'll keep that in mind..." Francesca grinned.<p>

"Ku fu fu fu fu...my pleasure, chopsticks." He smirked back, his arm casually leaning outside the car.

"Don't forget to return the car sometime soon!" she yelled as he drove away. Was that...her first date?

* * *

><p>When walking back into the mansion, she realised it was two in the morning. Fran, Squalo, Bel, Marmom, Lussuria and Levi were all sleeping on the table, but their heads snapped to her when she walked in.<p>

"We're hungry..." they whined in unison.

"Why do I have to cook? Are you guys blind? There's a reason why there's instant noodles and microwave food you know!" She yelled. There was an awkward moment of silence, broken by the sudden scramble toward the freezer and cupboards.

"Idiots..." she sighed as she walked to her room. _"Oh yeah Fran...there's a roast chicken in the oven I left for you..."_ Francesca messaged. And she thought they had a sense of smell...

* * *

><p><strong>It's not that good, i know...but i'm on a time roll...so...yeah. I'm unsure whether to add the future arc - it's not meant to exist anymore...tomorrow willmight be the last or second last chapter; that is unless the KHR release on Thursday doesn't clash (but it probably will). Please review if you can, all reviews are much appreciated, **

**HAVE A NICE DAY :]**


	14. Confessions of a pineapple

**I'm sorry for the late update! But i'm beginning to realise that writing a story in the two busiest school weeks of the year was stupid...Anyways, this is probably going to be the second last chapter; i'm trying to beat writer's block...so if it's weird, I apologize. Luckily i have extra time coz the manga hasn't updated yet...for some reason. Anyways, i'll try to make it not so cheesy...or stuff like that. Enjoy :]**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 14 - Proposal<span>

As six more years passed, the mafia world changed drastically. When Tsuna came to power, there were fewer innocent deaths, more profit and honesty with less guilt. The first thing he had done was send an order to make alliances with all families – or attempted to. Soon he controlled 89% of the mafia world. 7% of the remaining had a neutral alliance – like the Giglio Nero family.

For those brief 6 years, everything in the Vongola family was perfect. Francesca and Fran had both just turned eighteen – and finally considered legal adult. Of course, they lost their innocence, but you have to question if they ever had any to begin with. Mukuro proposed the day before their birthday – which led to a series of crazy events. It actually hadn't been much of a proposal, and whenever Fran recalled the moment, he felt devastation.

The Varia had been in the process of eliminating another new family (that had declared war on the Vongola) who had been troubling a smaller family with an alliance. Fran, Francesca and Bel went as a trio, which was considered a 'precaution' – because they all had Varia quality; and hey, what could've possibly one wrong? Act rash, think later... There was absolutely no point in wasting the other Varia members time, they could've been doing another job and made more business. However, their intel had been horribly wrong – there just happened to be ten hundred members, not ten, which left them stuck in the middle of a crappy twenty storey mansion in the south of France.

* * *

><p>"Okay...Fran! You take the stairs, I'll take the roof, and Bel; you watch out for all the windows. Move out!" Francesca ordered.<p>

"The prince does not take orders..." Bel growled back. Francesca's nerve twitched. Here they were in the middle of the enemy base, surrounded by a thousand skilled hit men and minutes away from certain annihilation. And Bel still wanted to argue about his self proclaimed princeliness?

"Do it or fucking die!" Francesca screeched, and started to up the stairs. Four hundred and thirty nine steps to the top...Grumbling, Bel stood and watched the various windows. _Crash! _A window shattered as a man climbed though.

"Ushi shi shi...the prince has found a toy..." Bel squealed joyfully.

* * *

><p>Running to the stairs, Fran realised he was just a bit late. Most of the men were already in point blanc shooting range, half way up the stairs. Instinctively he took a step back just in time to avoid a sudden hail of bullets. Concentrating, he created a powerful illusion – crumbling stairs. It may've been effective, but in time it would drain his energy. Plus, every now and then, a random box weapon would make it through the illusion and take a swing at him. Bugger...<p>

* * *

><p>The first thing that Francesca saw when she kicked open the roof door was a helicopter shooting a missile at her. She saw her life flash before her eyes...but no. One pineapple suddenly appeared and knocked it away.<p>

"Pineapple head..." she muttered, relieved.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...it seems like I made it in time chopsticks..." Mukuro grinned darkly.

"And just how did you know I was here?" Francesca accused.

"I uh...um...was...shopping...in...uh...the...town..." Mukuro lied lamely.

"What a shame...your twenty two years old and you still can't put up a decent lie. How is it that you're shopping in Venice when you're meant to be at Tsuna's inheritance anniversary?" she teased. Mukuro looked awkwardly away. "Duck!" Francesca suddenly yelled tackling Mukuro to the floor as the men in the helicopter brought out machine guns.

Mukuro stood up and ran up to the helicopter, materialised his trident and jumped into the air. "How is it that whenever I save your ass, do a favour or say hello, you never say thanks?" he pouted. Throwing his trident, the rotors jammed and the helicopter began to descend, the hard way. The men in the helicopter weren't much of a bother now...

Francesca crossed her arms and prepared for a lecture. "Well if you use a point system, now you've got 2465 points – but, I still have 2470...so, suck!" she smirked and stuck out her tongue. Mukuro was silently thrilled. She remembered all their encounters? _I've found my soul mate, I've found my soul mate_...his mind sang silently. His happy thoughts were quickly broken by Francesca's loud thinking voice.

"Well...the roof shouldn't be much of a problem...Mukuro, go and help Fran and Bel. They're on the third floor!" she yelled, shoving him down the metal staircase. "And don't fall! It's a long way down!" she yelled after him. Shutting the door behind her, she stared at the number of men trying to climb up on the emergency fire staircase. No problemo...

* * *

><p>Fran suppressed another yawn. There was no way he could keep this up for more than ten minutes...the bottom of the stairs were littered with men who had been disabled from their tumble down, but there were still more than two hundred left. Why were these people like fleas? This was meant to be a small group. Seriously, the Varia only had what, fifty people in all?<p>

* * *

><p>Belphegor laughed crazily again. It was always so much fun killing people. They were always like 'no! Don't kill me!' And he would say something catchy like 'I have some bad luck for you...'Suddenly someone burst in from the stairs behind him. Did that mean the biatch was dead? He threw a knife, but was quickly blocked by no other than Rokudo Mukuro.<p>

"Ushi shi shi...Tsuna's not going to be happy that you missed his party..." Bel sang. He opened his box weapon – and his mink flew out. Despite having quite a bit of energy left, he had already wasted most of it from the previous day and missing out on a good night's rest. He was also running out of knives – sure he usually had a couple hundred, but he barely had a hundred left.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...i'm here to help...I just happened to be passing by. It seems you're doing fine...so i'll be going now." Mukuro said sharply and turned down the corridor. When he turned the corner, he immediately saw the real problem. Fran was trying to hold back a large number of men...with a decent illusion, but he was barely standing. "Midget...Ku fu fu fu fu...what have you gotten yourself into this time?"

"If you're going to gloat, then I'm just going to ignore you..." Fran sighed, trying to focus on his illusion, but failing. His illusion flickered. Face palming, Mukuro stepped up.

"Fourth path..." he whispered to himself. His trident once again appeared, and he ran down the stairs, swinging his trident left and right. There was no way the mafia family on the stairs stood a chance.

Fran yawned, sat down on the first step and fell into a sleep like state.

"_Fran...can you hear me? Are you okay?"_ Francesca messaged. She was finished – the men climbing up had all 'slipped' and fallen down painfully...she was currently running down the stairs as back up.

"_Yeah...i can hear you...but I think I'm asleep..."_ Fran returned.

"_What? You're still alive right?"_ Francesca questioned.

"_Yeah...Mukuro showed up in the last minute."_ He sent back with a hint of a shrug. Francesca inwardly cursed. Mukuro was beating her now...the favour of saving a fellow comrade was worth seven points...

* * *

><p>Francesca stormed out of the staircase and onto the third floor. Immediately Bel was next to her and threw another knife. It missed her by an inch, and hit the man that had just swung through the broken window on a rope.<p>

"Gee...thanks Bel..." Francesca muttered sarcastically.

"Ushi shi shi...it seems like you owe me a favour..." Bel grinned back, his mink grinning likewise, draped on his shoulders. Looking at him, Francesca had to admit that the haircut she gave him was pretty interesting...curls and all...but it was definitely better than his old one anyways.

"I gave you a cool haircut, I don't owe you anything." She retorted stubbornly. She quickly ran to the stairs and found Fran half asleep. He was tired – but very much alive to her relief. Mukuro was flicking off the remnants of the damn family. Guiltily, she had to admit that they would've probably died if he hadn't been stalking her...Running down the stairs, she ran towards him. The quicker they were finished with this damn mission, the better... "Oi! Pineapple! Get a move on already!" she jeered. Slash! Another man fell, dead. Mukuro didn't speed up.

"You men just don't get it when a girl's impatient..." Francesca cursed, and opened her two box weapons – one was a storm class, the other; mist. She had three rings; the Varia mist ring (hey it was her week!), a hell ring and an A rank storm ring which she'd killed for.

Instantly, a crossbow strapped on her right wrist. There weren't any arrows – all her arrows were made from mist. Making reality and illusion was one part of being an illusionist. Making illusions real however...that's what only the best could do. On her left arm, there was a decorative metallic cast (patterns, jewels, extravagant pieces) – more flexible than her previous one, and use mainly for defence...and her storm peregrine falcon, that was currently resting on the cast. With the help of deathperation flames, her falcon could travel at almost 300 miles an hour. Its feathers were made completely doused in storm flames, making it look like some sort of a phoenix.

"Hades..." Francesca whispered to the bird. In return, it cocked it's head and bit the chopsticks in her hair affectionately. "Hey! Cut it man! Go on...get the guy in the suits...and try not the hurt the pineapple okay?" she murmured. It seemed to nod, then flew off.

Bel had only seen Francesca's box weapon once. Well...the falcon anyway. And inside, he felt just a little jealous. It had been a pretty good choice...his box weapon set things on fire by friction. Hers just ploughed right through them, setting them on fire from the inside. Much better for the environment too...

The fifty or so men left were rapidly dwindling...and began to run away. But they couldn't out run the Francesca's box weapon, it was simply too fast. "What's wrong? Too scared?" Mukuro laughed, chasing after the group. He cornered one of the men brandishing a scythe, but the falcon and the trapped Mafioso both swung at the same time. At that moment, Mukuro couldn't step or jump back, or he would be hit. He couldn't duck, go left, right or forward without being hit by the weakling of a Mafioso – which only left up. He jumped, just in time. Looking around, he saw that Francesca's box weapon had killed everyone...there wasn't any enemy left.

Slightly angered that he had been outdone by a bird, Mukuro walked back to Francesca.

"So...I asked you out on a date yesterday...and you haven't replied," Mukuro flirted, hugging her from behind and rested his head on hers.

"Did you now?" Francesca replied playfully, tagging along. "I had no idea...then perhaps we should enjoy being in Venice?"

"Ushi shi shi...does the biatch have a lover?" Bel giggled jealously from behind. Whipping around, Francesca aimed vaguely in his direction with her crossbow and fired. It would've hit his forehead, but Bel threw a knife and the weapons intercepted.

"Aarrgghhh...what's going on?" Fran whined groggily in the corner.

"Nothing..." Francesca said quickly, and as innocently as possible. Fran hated Bel because he knew that he secretly liked her, and he hated Mukuro because not only did he like Francesca, she liked him back. Personally, he still believed that Mukuro was a no good scum bag who would break her heart...

"So...are we going to clean up?" Fran asked, looking at the number of dead bodies piling everywhere.

"I'm not bothered...let's just get the Vongola cleaning squad to do it...ushi shi shi..." Bel suggested. The four of them were happy with that, and they gladly left.

* * *

><p>Bel and Fran were going back to the Varia to report their mission, while Francesca made the excuse of going to a weapons specialist to tweak a few things – but in truth, she was going to have a night 'out' with Mukuro. Just before they parted their separate ways, Fran dragged Mukuro off a little to the side.<p>

"I'm warning you, if you do ANYTHING to Francesca, I swear to god you'll be fucking dead tomorrow!" Fran hissed.

"I won't...I swear. Man to man...ku fu fu fu fu..." Mukuro trailed off as Fran let go off his arm.

Mukuro had been planning for this evening. Why else had he stalked her for so long? _Today's the day_ he told himself. _I'm going to do it. I'm going to propose...But I need to woo her first..._

* * *

><p>In his brilliant plan, he had three stages (in truth, he found that on the internet). Firstly, make sure the two of you are in a good mood. Check. Secondly, pick a romantic place. Check. Lastly, pop the question. Simple. Nothing could ruin the moment...<p>

"What do you want to do?" Mukuro asked casually with a cheesy grin.

"Let's go watch a movie!" Francesca exclaimed. And so, they went to the cinema. Mukuro was aiming for something...sad, or romantic, so it would set the perfect scene.

"How about we go for...the reshow of Titanic?" Mukuro suggested.

"What? Are you gay? That movie's, like older than me. And plus, who gives about lovey dovey crap?" Francesca retorted. Mukuro mentally shattered. He forced a smile.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...so what does chopsticks want to watch?" he asked.

"How about the 'human centipede two'? I hear it's full of guts and gory..." she considered thoughtfully. Mukuro was almost on the verge of tears. How was he going to propose when a mad scientist was stitching a bunch of mouths and butts together? But he forced a neutral face and paid for the tickets.

Mukuro was right. He didn't find a single chance to propose for the whole two hours. The movie wasn't even that good... half the time, Francesca was yelling things loudly like 'what's with you? Bloods a darker shade of red!' or 'pffft. That's not what breaking a jaw sounds like'. In the end, they were actually kicked out.

"So...what do you want to do Mukuro?" she asked. Mukuro thought for about a minute. A gondola ride, or a fancy dinner was too cliché, and plus he'd already done that. Twice.

"You want to go the carnival? I heard that they've got some pretty sweet rides..." Mukuro implied. Nodding happily, the pair left together.

"Aargh!" Francesca yelled as the rollercoaster spun another loop. "What point of heights do you people not get?"

"Ku fu fu fu fu...having fun?" Mukuro laughed over the roar over the wind. Sadly, the ride ended too soon, as all rides do. Not willing to wait for another line, they went to grab a bite to eat. The sun had already long gone, and the moon shone brightly that night. Now half drunk, they continued to walk around the carnival, beer bottles in hand. By now, most of the people remaining were all couples, and so Mukuro quietly led them towards a ferris wheel. It didn't bother him that it was broken at all. Hey, how much more romantic could you get waiting in a dumb line? Climbing over the 'do not enter' sign, they flicked on the power switch. They certainly did have lousy security...

The ferris wheel immediately flickered to life, and the carriages began to turn. With the darkness, the highest point was hidden deep into the night sky. "My lady?" Mukuro acted, bowing and rolling his hand. Francesca blushed slightly and stepped into the carriage and was quickly followed by Mukuro as the wheel continued to spin. Shutting the door behind him, Mukuro feigned a yawn and stretched his arms...around Francesca's shoulders.

"A ha, caught you, pineapple head." Francesca smiled good naturedly, resting her head gently on his chest. There lay a few minutes of peaceful silence, the two lovers in each other's embrace.

"Francesca..." Mukuro began softly.

"Is there something wrong?" Francesca asked, confused.

"No, no! Just...uh...play along." He insisted. Francesca signalled for him to continue. "Francesca...will you do me the honour ...of marriage?" There was a moment of silence.

"Maybe..." Francesca spluttered.

"That's not an answer..." Mukuro pushed on.

"Then yes..." Francesca said simply. She would've married him when she was eleven, but that would've been just slightly weird. In that moment, they both looked at each other and shared a romantic stare. Unfortunately, for that moment, they just happened to be at the high point of the ferris wheel when one of the bars creaked dangerously.

"Don't move..." Mukuro murmured. The bars groaned and the ferris wheel stopped and the lights dimmed. They swayed back and forth in the wind.

"So...how're we going to get down?" Francesca replied. Her question was answered when the first bar snapped. They were flung to the left side of the carriage, the frail door swung open, and Mukuro tumbled out. "Damn!" Francesca sighed, as she jumped out to follow him.

"Ffffuuuuucccckkkkk!" Francesca screeched, as she fell, trying to avoid the numerous bars that would surely shatter her bones. Mukuro was just slightly in front of her, but seemed to be trying to find a landing area. Suddenly, a thick rope with a hook snaked out of his coat, and snagged onto one of the bars. As he halted to a stop, he managed to grab Francesca. They swung about ten metres from the ground. Slowly, they jumped from bar to bar, until they reached the ground.

And then they kissed.

* * *

><p>When Fran found out the following day, he went into a state of limbo for three hours. Francesca wasn't even sure he was breathing. Bel had been a little sad, but insisted that he was happy for her. The rest of the Varia hadn't commented more than just a shrug or a vacant nod. They had all put bets on the issue anyway...that meant that Bel would have to pay Levi, Squalo and Marmon four hundred euros...each.<p>

* * *

><p>At the Vongola mansion, the reaction wasn't too different. Mukuro had chosen the breakfast table – which had been a good and bad decision. The good thing was that all the guardians were there. The bad thing? Well...they were the guardians – and rarely did they have a day without an argument of some sort.<p>

The second after he gave the news, Tsuna practically fainted. "Hiiee?"

"Juuidaime!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Mukuro, what the hell? Francesca's like what, eighteen? You're way too old for her!" he blamed.

"We're in love..." Mukuro insisted.

"My, my, so soon? I thought Tsuna would marry Kyoko first..." Yamamoto said thoughtfully.

"Good job to the EXTREME!" Ryohei congratulated.

"Hn." Hibari shrugged. He remembered Francesca...the girl that gave him Hibird...

"Lambo thinks Mukuro will be a bad husband..." the little boy grumbled.

"What is with you people? Can't you just accept that I love her?" Mukuro sighed. Maybe he should have never told them...

Their wedding was set to be in two days – they didn't see the point in anything fancy; they could just make illusions of what they didn't have. And at that moment, the momentary peace and perfection ended.

* * *

><p>It began when the Arcobaleno were all killed off, in the exact same moment.<p>

Reborn had been hit by a train.

Verde had drowned in his bathtub.

Skull had fallen down the stairs.

Colonello had been eaten alive by piranhas.

Fon got a bad case of food poisoning.

Yuni suicided after her mother's death.

The Arcobaleno with the transparent pacifier turned out to be from a parallel world but nonetheless choked on a pea.

And Marmon caught a cold.

Even Lal Mirch hadn't been spared. Her aeroplane crashed.

* * *

><p>All in all, the strongest babies in the world had died, and the tri ne sette policy was once again disturbed. And with that, the Vongola Decimo called a meeting, for all the Vongola – big and small. And so, the thousand or so Mafioso, cleaners, cooks, weapon specialists, allied families, ambassadors, guardians and the Varia crowded into the large hall.<p>

Only Tsuna's guardians and the Varia stood on the stage with him.

"Friends...I have asked you to gather here today; because of the Arcobaleno's deaths. As most of you all know, they all died on the same day, which makes the whole situation highly suspicious. Whoever or whatever caused this is beyond our power. As the elements of the tri ni sette are the Vongola rings, the Mare Rings and the pacifiers, we must insist on a alliance between us and the Giglio Nero family. I cannot say what can happen, but that our enemy is strong; whoever they may be. What is certain, is that this will not be an easy fight; in which lives will be lost. If you do not wish to die, please take this moment to leave." Tsuna paused for a second and looked around the room. Not a single person left. Smiling, he continued. "Stay on guard. Remember why we fight. For our friends. Our family. For the Vongola!" he yelled.

"FOR THE VONGOLA!" the room chorused.

* * *

><p>"I don't see why we have to come when Xanxus doesn't," Fran complained, readjusting his frog hat. In truth, he didn't actually need it anymore, but he had grown attached to it, so he made an illusion of one.<p>

"We've been over this midget..." Mukuro sighed. "Xanxus wouldn't be the best negotiator." Fran ignored him. He didn't really appreciate his teacher as his brother in law...

The Vongola guardians and assassination squad (minus Xanxus) were on their way by plane to the Giglio Nero family mansion. In truth, the Varia wasn't needed, but Gokudera had insisted, just in case some went 'wrong'.

"I still say that this is a bad idea...I have this feeling that our wedding isn't going to be on..." Francesca muttered.

"Chopsticks...we're doing this to avoid war and loss of life." Hibari claimed. Francesca shuddered. She had gotten used to Mukuro calling her that...but when Hibari said it, it was just plain creepy.

"Yeah, but there's practically no chance that we can convince the Giglio Nero family. We've tried for what, six years now? And one of the only reasons we got out of there alive every time was because of Aria and Yuni. I doubt our chances now..." Francesca pointed out.

"Hey – there's no harm to try again. As I said before, it's absolutely crucial that we try. Maybe we'll have better luck convincing them now that we've got the same enemy." Tsuna tried to debate. His words had been said with so much confidence and logic, for that moment, everyone in the plane felt certain success.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, they landed. It had been a rough one too – the Giglio Nero family threatened to shoot down the helicopter until the insisted they had only come to talk.<p>

There wasn't much to say; it was hard to talk to a bunch of people who were completely miserable from the death of their boss. Francesca tried to lighten the mood.

"So uh...you guys seen any good movies lately?" she said awkwardly. Everyone in the room looked at her as if she was crazy. Okay...so that hadn't worked. "Any good restaurants in the area?" she tried again, nudging Fran and Mukuro. "Help me out guys..." she whispered desperately.

"Ah...crazy weather we've been having. How about you guys?" Fran tried. Awkward stares all around.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...I know a good joke. There was this guy at a bar, just looking at his drink. He stays like that for half of an hour.

Then, this big trouble-making truck driver steps next to him, takes the drink from the guy, and just drinks it all down. The poor man starts crying. The truck driver says, "Come on man, I was just joking. Here, I'll buy you another drink. I just can't stand to see a man cry."

"No, it's not that. This day is the worst of my life. First, I fall asleep, and I go late to my office. My boss, outrageous, fires me. When I leave the building, to my car, I found out it was stolen. The police said that they can do nothing. I get a cab to return home, and when I leave it, I remember I left my wallet and credit cards there. The cab driver just drives away."

"I go home, and when I get there, I find my wife in bed with the gardener. I leave home, and come to this bar. And just when I was thinking about putting an end to my life, you show up and drink my poison." Mukuro finished. Everyone managed to crack a small smile, but the moment soon ended when Hibari and Squalo grew impatient.

"We've wasted too much time. We propose an offer." Hibari started.

"VOI! You know the Arcobaleno were murdered, there's no way they could've been killed just like that. Are you going to join our alliance?" Squalo yelled. The members of the Giglio Nero family looked pissed.

"Why should we join your alliance? Our family's history is just as large as yours – " Gamma retorted, angry.

"You kidding? The Vongola has made peace with 89% of all mafia families in the world – " Bel started.

"Then why don't you join our alliance?" Gamma shot back. There was silence.

"Okay….how about we compromise. We make peace, and share the power?" Tsuna tried. Both sides immediately made two separate group huddles.

* * *

><p>"What are you thinking herbivore?" Hibari growled.<p>

"Oi! The tenth is right, there's no way they'll agree to our terms otherwise – " Gokudera shot back.

"But we bothered to make such a large group of alliances…." Yamamoto said thoughtfully.

"That's true to the EXTREME!" Ryohei almost yelled.

"Think about what he's saying…..it feels wrong to give them at least half the power right?" Francesca started. All eyes turned to her. "How about this….we make them the biggest alliance? It's not like we're giving them too much power, but it's a pretty big position. They're pretty powerful compared to other families, but they are still weaker than us." She concluded quietly.

"I like it." Fran muttered. Everyone else nodded in agreement. That seemed like the best decision at the moment…..

* * *

><p>"I don't trust them…." The cloud guardian murmured.<p>

"What do you think we should do?" Nosaru asked Gamma. In the last few days, the members of the Goglio Nero family had looked towards Gamma for advice and leadership – because he had been the closest and most understanding towards the boss and her daughter.

"I think we should take it." He said. Immediately, the other members began to argue.

"What? Why should we? Aria never agreed to their 'treaty' for a reason right?" Tosaru rebutted.

"How can we? This is stupid, I say we kill them…they could be the enemy…." Another man grumbled.

"Guys…..just hear me out. We've lost our boss, and if we stay on the same path as we are now, I'm pretty sure we'll all die a certain death." Gamma tried to explain. "The people who killed Aria and Yuni are still after our rings – and the Vongola. We'll be harder to kill if we flock together." The men looked at each other. Gamma did have a point…

"Yeah, but what if the Vongola killed the Arcobaleno? " The sun guardian exclaimed.

"Then we can keep a close eye on them." Gamma said seriously, and the tone in the air became dangerous.

"All right. We'll see their deal. If it's acceptable, we go for it." Genkishi concluded. They turned around and faced the Vongola.

* * *

><p>"You'll be our biggest alliance. We get thirty perfect of all your profit." Tsuna tried.<p>

"Unacceptable. The biggest alliance we can work with, the percentage is too high." Gamma stated.

"Twenty five percent," Gokudera considered

"Ten percent," Genkishi replied firmly.

"Twenty percent? " Yamamoto asked hopefully.

"Fifteen percent," Gamma concluded.

"We accept." Tsuna said, and offered his hand for a shake.

Gamma didn't take it. "Remember Vongola. The only reason we're joining you is so we can keep an eye on you," he glared. Tsuna, despite being a powerful mafia boss, sweat dropped and almost backed away. And with that, they left. The plane journey back was horribly silent, and awkward.

"Say Mukuro….since when did you know any good jokes?" Ryohei questioned quizzically.

"You'd be surprised what happens in Vendicare…" Mukuro replied darkly.

"I can't believe they accepted….." Francesca murmured.

"Did you think that we would fail miserably?" Fran said thoughtfully.

"You did?" Tsuna feigned and offended look. "I thought they would've put up more of a fight…." He admitted.

"Aaarrrggghhh…we weren't even needed." Squalo growled, as the plane landed. The Varia jumped off before the plane had put on its brakes, and disappeared.

"After all this, time, I have to say – they really are a scary bunch…." Yamamoto grinned.

* * *

><p>But no one had suspected anything even in the SLIGHTLEST close to the truth: that the Gesso family had been reformed.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Bit weird right? I'll try to update sooner. Reviews are much appreciated, Have a nice day :]<strong>


	15. The End

**Well...i finally made it. The end. I'm sorry if it's random, but i might as well get this over with. Enjoy :]**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 15 - The End<span>

Genkishi looked around the table. There weren't that many people staring back – just the funeral wreaths and most of the white spell, not that they actually knew each other. At the head of the table, sat Byakuran. But no one knew of their future encounters, as Yuni only passed on the memories of the future selves to those on the allies of the Vongola, which these people simply weren't.

"Do I know you?" Zakuro asked with a yawn. He was a poor man, but this wasn't very promising...

"Ha ha! I suppose you don't...but I have a deal for you." Byakuran bargained happily. "I regret many of the things that I have done, and now I wish to repent."

"Is that why have you called us here?" Genkishi retorted angrily. All the people around the table recalled the reasons for this...they had all received a letter the previous day – they were each to be paid a million Euros just for an appearance for a job request.

"Well...i've been thinking, that it was unfair of me to use you all like that in the future..." Byakuran trailed off. "So I'll give you what you deserve." As he disappeared, everyone around the table realised something – power. On their fingers lay A rank rings, and their pockets were filled with box weapons. The real funeral wreaths had their carnage boxes, and their disabilities were no more. And then, as one they knew and remembered – it was their job to own the tri ne sette.

* * *

><p>"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." The priest smiled. It had been a fast forwarded ceremony; just four minutes of boring speech. Despite the happy occasion, there were many unsmiling faces at Francesca and Mukuro's wedding. Why? Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera were still devastated with Reborn's death. Fran and Bel didn't like Mukuro. And the Varia simply saw no reason to smile. But nonetheless, the guests all arrived.<p>

All in all, there were only about twenty people at the ceremony – but in truth, both of them didn't have too many friends. Everyone who had come was from 'work'. In fact, no one was actually wearing the proper clothing because they were meant to be prepared– most people were wearing suits and various uniforms. Mukuro was wearing his coat and gloves; as Francesca was wearing her updated Varia uniform – a hideous mixture of yellow and black. But it had been in the 9th's will and so they had to honour it. It was odd that only Xanxus didn't have to...

There was a polite applause as they kissed, and the small crowd went to the reception area.

"Congratulations." Dino smiled to Francesca.

"Thanks," she grinned back. "I seems like only yesterday I saved your ass."

Dino laughed. "I suppose you weren't planning for wedding games?"

"Wedding games? What the hell are they?" Mukuro asked, crashing their conversation.

"Well, it's just something that the Cavallone family prepared for you guys..." Dino smirked. Suddenly his subordinates entered, with various crates of odd looking equipment.

"How the hell do you know all this?" Francesca accused.

"I've had my fair share of wondering about marriage..." Dino innocently said, ashamed. "Let the games begin!"

It turned out that everyone OTHER than the bride and groom had known about this, or how else did they suddenly pull out party hats? The first game was 20 questions. Not fun. Especially when half the questions were things like 'Are you virgins?' or 'is this your first relationship?'

Thankfully, it was a mafia wedding, and there were a few more...violent games. Like the 'box weapon race' ( Francesca's won) or 'who can beat up a 'piñata the quickest' (everyone tied). The most fun was probably 'musical chairs', with a twist. The rules were simple: every time someone lost, they had to do one favour for the bride or groom – and surprisingly everyone joined in. Squalo perhaps had the worst deal – to kiss Lussuria. It was hilarious...not for Squalo though.

They were up to their last game – 'find the bride', which targeted Mukuro. He was blindfolded, then spun around for a minute. The guests then stuck out their hands, and Mukuro had to guess which one was Francesca's. He was about half way when he stopped and said "aha. I've found you..." he pulled off the cloth around his eyes, and stared in the icy ones of Hibari, who swung his tonfa in his face. The crowd roared with laughter – Francesca had been the one right next to Hibari.

That was when their wedding was crashed. Literally.

* * *

><p>Torikabuto had activated his open carnage box, and well, when you hear a crash come through the ceiling, it's instinctive to look in that direction: therefore, the result was that everyone lost their grips on reality.<p>

"Oh crap...i knew I shouldn't have looked..." Fran sighed, as he began to float, Torikabuto disappearing.

"I can't believe we fell for the same trick twice!" Gokudera yelled, loading his flame arrows as the world spun a one eighty.

"Mukurowl. Cambia Forma!" Mukuro yelled. In an instant, the lenses floated in front of his face. Torikabuto...what the hell was he doing with an open carnage box? As the lenses stabilised, Mukuro couldn't find the damn illusionist. Where did he go?

"Get off of me!" Lambo resisted, on the verge of tears. Everyone tried to turn to him. Lambo was flying around, aimlessly.

"Lambo! Torikabuto's trying to take your lightning helmet!" Mukuro yelled. Lambo stopped kicking, and seemingly had an epiphany.

"Corna Fulmine!" Lambo cried, and electricity sparked angrily around him. The illusion dropped, and Torikabuto lay on the ground, unconscious.

"Good job Lambo..." Tsuna muttered. Now THIS was surprising.

* * *

><p>"I repeat, how the hell do you have a carnage box weapon?" Squalo demanded, throttling Torikabuto. They were in the bathroom of the reception area.<p>

"My business is not your business!" Torikabuto retorted. They had been interrogating for almost ten minutes...how was Genkishi going to consider this?

"Ushi shi shi...it is clear that it is our business you damn moth, so if you don't mind, you'll tell us or we'll start torturing..." Bel said happily. Torikabuto didn't budge an inch.

"I think we'll have plenty of fun..." Francesca growled, kicking the door open. Talk about dramatic entrances... "Eeewww...a guy's room? Couldn't you pick somewhere...i don't know, more sanitary?" she whined, looking at the pee ridden floor. Mukuro followed, grinning.

"Ku fu fu fu fu...it seems you've picked the wrong day to mess with the Vongola..." Mukuro walked in and aimed a nice kick on the mask. A miniature crack appeared.

"My turn..." Francesca smile darkly, and purple triangles appeared under her eyes. She cracked her knuckles.

"Good job...when the triangles appear, it means she's finally serious..." Fran said thoughtfully. Taking her time, she borrowed one of Bel's knives and began to carve the wooden mask.

"What are you doing?" Torikabuto asked, nervous.

"Hm...i think you nose is too fat...and your teeth look funny...no scratch that, I don't like your eyes either." She mused, slicing the features off.

"I'll talk! Stop!" the coward yelled.

"Speak. Where did you get your weapons from? Byakuran?" Squalo roared.

"I swear, I don't know anyone called Byakuran. We were approached by some weird guy with white hair who said he felt regret, and he gave us power! I'll tell you everything, just keep that crazy bitch away from me..." he begged.

"We? Who exactly is we?" Bel asked, interested.

"How am I supposed to know? This guy just said to kill these babies – so we did. He wants to destroy the tri ne sette...some crap like that. That's all I know. Can you let me go now?" Torikabutp pleaded.

"One more question. Where's your base?" Mukuro asked.

"What base?" Torikabuto questioned, trying to be innocent.

"Don't insult our intelligence! You were trying to kidnap Lambo, so where were you going to go?" Francesca insisted. "And if you don't answer, I might just add that I think your cheeks are chubby..." she trailed off evilly, lifting the knife.

"Wait! It's an abandoned nuclear power plant – not too far from here." Torikabuto lied. In fact, he'd been lying from the start – it was true that the other funeral wreaths were there, but in truth, their plan was to lure the Vongola there – and kill them. But what Genkishi 'forgot' to tell him, was that he was probably going to die. "So...you'll let me go now?" he asked hopefully.

"We don't let cowards live." Squalo spat, and sliced the mask in half. "We need a meeting with Tsuna. Now." He growled.

* * *

><p>"We should attack." Gokudera insisted.<p>

"But we don't know who we're dealing with!" Ryohei rebutted.

"We do – we just squeezed out a bunch of information from Torikabuto." Squalo logically said.

"But we have to ask ourselves, how is he back? I mean...i thought Yuni died to stop that." Yamamoto said thoughtfully.

"He's right." Everyone looked at Tsuna. It was rare to see him so serious when he wasn't in hyper dying will mode.

"Then what do you think Tsuna? Do you believe Byakuran's back?" Fran challenged.

"We can't be sure..." Tsuna said, thinking deeply.

"Well...Torikabuto did say that they met a guy with white hair, who said he was riddled with guilt, or something cheesy like that," Mukuro added. "But that doesn't suggest that he's the one who wants to destroy the rings."

"Then perhaps...they just want the power for themselves." Francesca said simply.

"And without Byakuran, they're a weak bunch..." Gokudera mused. "We can easily kill them – we've done it before right?"

"But they're still the Gesso family. What if it's another trap?" Yamamoto warned.

"It's your choice Tsuna. From the information we have, they're at a nuclear plant not too far from here. They've already tried once, we don't know when they'll strike again. What do you say?" Hibari summarised.

Tsuna thought deeply. Their future battles had been long, and too many people had been affected. But his rash decisions had left many of them scarred...was it fair? The enemy had already struck, and Hibari was right. They didn't know when their next move would be. But if they attacked them, then they were pretty much handing the Vongola rings over, and their problems would be passed onto the Giglio Nero family...Tsuna decided. They'd done it before they could do it again.

"We go tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Francesca was restless. She knew she was meant to get some rest and prepare for a mafia war, but she just couldn't sleep. It was meant to be her wedding day! She was supposed to be with Mukuro, spending their first night as a married couple! But nnnooooo, here she was, stuck with the Varia while he was stuck with the Vongola. And what about a honeymoon? A raid on a nuclear power plant? Just perfect.<p>

Unable to continue, she looked once again at her pocket watch. As a wedding 'gift' to the guests, she and Mukuro had provided everyone with pocket watches – just like the first generation guardians. The only difference was that their watches were silver, more durable, waterproof, and had a picture. For the Vongola guardians, there had been a cute portrait of them when they were younger. And for the Varia, there had been a casual photo – a picture of all of them on a casual day – not that it was boring. Xanxus had just thrown a red wine onto Squalo, Bel was grinning and throwing knives into Fran's hat, Lussuria was trying to clean Squalo's hair, Levi was sulking in the corner, Marmon was counting money in his hands and Francesca was smiling brightly with a peace sign, waiting for the camera timer.

Even Dino received one – a picture of him and Romario – right after he tripped on his own feet. Good times...good times...

Sighing, Francesca snapped the watch shut. It was three in the morning...they were meant to leave at sunrise – in four hours. There was one thing she had to do first...write a letter, to Fran. If things didn't go as planned, then it would probably be necessary. It wasn't much – just a few lines. She got dressed, fed her falcon some candy, then stocked up on weapons and snacks.

* * *

><p>Fran could hear his sister in her room – and felt bad for her. And because of this, he couldn't sleep, think or even move. Limbo... Finally, he went downstairs to help her make breakfast.<p>

* * *

><p>Breakfast at the Varia headquarters had never been this glum. There was no laughter, swearing, insults, fighting or whining. They just ate in silence.<p>

* * *

><p>When the sun rose, they rendezvoused at the Vongola mansion and discussed the plan in more detail.<p>

"All right, here's the deal." Tsuna spread the map over the table. "The nuclear plants been abandoned for over fifty years. There shouldn't be any security, but the place is huge. Don't go anywhere alone. I know it's not much to go on, but it's our only shot to do something before they get us. They've already got the Arcobaleno's pacifiers, and if we fail, they'll have the Vongola rings too. So, our top priority is to get the pacifiers and survive. We go in, kill as many of them as we can, grab what we can, then leave. Okay?"

Fran resisted the urge to yell out to him. His plan had less detail and plot than the Varia...

* * *

><p>"Run!" Tsuna yelled.<p>

Their plan had failed. Miserably. So what if they got the pacifiers back, and the Gesso family was dead; most of them were wounded or dead from their battles, and from the looks of it, the bomb would explode before they could reach the plane leaving them and the rest of Italy dead or dying. Genkishi's last move had been to activate the bomb on the nuclear reactor next to them – and they only had four minutes before the bomb exploded...What was the point of that?

Francesca began to run towards the bomb. "What are you doing? The exits that way Sherlock!" Fran yelled.

"I left something important!" she lied. "Just keep on running!" she yelled.

"Hurry up!" Fran yelled.

"Just go! I'll be fine!" she replied confidently as they continued to run, and went out of range.

Francesca couldn't bear the burden any longer. She sat down and cried. Mukuro was dead. He'd been killed; and she'd been right next to him. So if he could protect her, then this was the least she could do. Her life in exchange for her brother's and the rest of Italy...it was probably worth it. The digital clock ticked – one minute left.

Gulping, Francesca stood up. She'd always thought about death...and that when the day came, she would laugh in its face. But in reality, it was terrifying.

Concentrating, she made a barrier around the chamber – a large one. It took a lot of her energy, but she managed. So now, even if her barrier broke, the explosion would be contained. Ten seconds to go.

"_Fran...thanks for being a great brother. I mean it. You've always been there for me, and..." _she tried to message.

"_What are you doing? Where are you?"_ he quickly sent back.

"_This is it Fran...I'm sorry it had to end this way – but i've left something for you...on my desk."_ she swallowed. Two seconds. _"Goodbye..." _

The bomb exploded. "Is that all you got?" Francesca muttered to herself. Her barrier was slowly cracking and she felt her energy drain...then darkness.

"_Francesca!" _Fran yelled, but for the first time in his life, hit a mental barrier. He couldn't feel her mind.

* * *

><p>"Here lies Francesca, sister of Fran, wife to Mukuro now deceased, and illusionist to the Varia..."the priest read sadly. It was only three days ago when he married the couple, and now they lay dead at his feet.<p>

* * *

><p>Fran had run back to his sister as soon as he realised what she had done – but it was too late. When he returned to the Varia headquarters and prepared a noose, he opened her door and found a letter addressed to him. It had been simple.<p>

_Fran,_

_If you're reading this right now, then it probably means I'm dead. Ironic huh? All these years we've survived with the mafia...and to die now. But that's not the point._

_We've been through a lot together in our eighteen years, but I'll tell you one thing. I don't regret a single moment. The bad, the good, it doesn't matter. Why? Because you were there with me._

_Seeing as I'm dead, and I've known you for all my life, I'm assuming that right now you're thinking about suicide. Don't ask me how I know, I just do...but don't seriously, live your life. Don't feel guilty. Be nice to Bel. But never forget that you had a sister._

_Francesca_

Fran looked at the noose. Should he? If it was her dying will for him not to...then perhaps it would be better for him to live.

* * *

><p><em><span>One year later.<span>_

"Hey, who's the girl in the photo?" Matt asked. He was a new recruit for the Varia; he had realised that the Varia members all carried pocket watches and were frequently staring at a photo. He recognised Squalo, Xanxus, Lussuria, Levi, the deceased Marmon and Fran – but not the girl. Like Fran, she had green hair, but brown eyes; and was the only ordinary looking person in the picture. Right now, they were all sitting in the lounge room, moping around.

"She's my sister." Fran said stiffly.

"Really? She's hot man...why's she in the photo?" Matt pushed on.

"She was part of the Varia." Bel added sadly. His first love...

"She was a special one..." Squalo sighed, remembering the odd girl he had grown attached to.

"Saved most of Italy..." Lussuria recalled.

"Was fun to have around..." Levi grumbled.

"Made interesting steak..." Xanxus yawned.

"What? How come I've never heard of her then?" Matt laughed. He got a lot of glares in return.

"She's dead."

* * *

><p><strong>I admit, i actually like killing off characters...i've never been one for sappy happy endings. But no matter...i'm finally done. I once again apologize for weirdness. HAVE A NICE DAY! Ciao. :] <strong>


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